The Son Of Neptune
by Son of Aether
Summary: Six months ago Percy disappeared from Camp Half-Blood, and for six months, Nico has been searching for him. And now finally he has a lead, through the eyes of a dying girl, somewhere near San Francisco.
1. Chapter 1  Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Nico stirred. He had lain motionless for hours, listening to the whispers of the dead. They were his messengers, and his searchers. For six months, Nico had been looking. The spirits of the underworld ranged the world, scouring the surface of America endlessly for some clue as to the whereabouts of Percy Jackson. As they died, he searched the thoughts of the dead, their memories, their feelings, and now, finally he had found something. Finally he had news. A half-blood had died near San Francisco, and in her dying thoughts was the news Nico had been looking for. Another half-blood stood over her, shaking her body, while a dazed looking boy sat in the background. His hair was pitch black and unkempt, and his eyes were a bright sea green, they reflected the ocean Nico could see through the windows of the dilapidated shed he now lay in. Nico watched through the body, as it was lifted up by the half-blood, and carried forwards - west, by the sun's position. Percy stood to follow, and Nico severed the connection.

Slowly, Nico stood and stretched out his body, feeling the blood begin to flow through his veins again. His joints cracked, and he slumped. He needed food, some form of nutrition, how long had it been since he had last eaten properly? Too long; at least since he left camp to search. But first he would go to Percy and he would bring him back to camp, where Annabeth would be waiting. He still remembered when he had last arrived.

_The camp was subdued. There was an air of depression. He walked in and, true to form, went straight to the Hades cabin, where everything was as he had left it, covered in a fine layer of dust. He rested there until dinner, to try and escape the prying eyes of the other campers. Finally he left the seclusion of his bed at the sound of the conch horn, and walked towards his table. As he entered the dinning pavilion, he looked over to the Poseidon table to greet Percy, only to see it empty. He thought little of it, he and Annabeth were often absent, on border patrol, or else eating alone. Then he had looked around the rest of the pavilion to see everyone eating in silence or talking quietly to each other. There was none of the usual jolly atmosphere, where siblings would talk and laugh together. Even the Stoll brothers were silent, heads bowed staring at their plates. No-one seemed to notice his presence. Then he saw Annabeth. She sat alone, at the end of the Athena table. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were wet. Nico immediately new something was wrong and judging by Annabeth it was to do with Percy. As soon as dinner ended, he followed Annabeth away from the table as she walked towards the beach. He watched her sit down and gave her a few minutes before going up to her. _

"_Annabeth?" he asked "What's happening? Where's Percy?"_

_She sniffed loudly before answering, "Hi Nico, I didn't see y-you at dinner. I don't know what's happening, all I know is Percy's g-gone." She paused and blew her nose loudly, "I was with him, last night. We were in his cabin, and… and he kissed me goodnight. I left to go to sleep. In the morning he didn't come to eat. I went to find him, b-but he wasn't there. His bed was slept in, but it didn't look as if he'd ever got up. We searched the whole camp but we c-can't find him,"_

"_I'll search for him. I'll look everywhere. He came for me when I needed him, so I'll return the favour. Ill tell Tyson and the hunters for you, and they can search to,"_

_She smiled weekly, "Thanks Nico. I can't leave camp yet, I need Chiron's permission, and he keeps telling me to wait. But you can go. Please find him. I'll join you as soon as I can. Rachel's looking into it and Grover's already out there. Together, we'll find him. And… and when we do, he's going to be so in trouble so deep," she was smiling properly now, and seemed, well not happy, but more sure. Like she felt that she would find him, almost as if only she could._

_He had left then, grabbing his few possessions, and had travelled first to New York, to a house he had found the year before, which was always empty, and stocked with food, drachmas and order forms for Hermes post. He passed the faintly glowing neon sign that he always failed to read past the first two words: _Aunty Em's_, and entered. As usual the place was covered in almost five years worth of dust, so he moved quickly towards a counter and grabbed some paper, before scrawling a quick note to Thalia, describing the situation, adding a golden drachma and leaving it for Hermes to deliver. Then he grabbed some food and put it in his worn out backpack, and using a hose to create a rainbow in the artificial porch lights he had turned on. He then tossed in a drachma and said out loud:_

"_Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, show me Tyson, somewhere in Atlantis"_

_Immediately an image of Percy's father appeared, sitting on his throne whispering anxiously to Tyson who stood before him._

_Nico bowed before the message and spoke loudly so as to get there attention, "My Lord,"_

"_Ah, Nephew" Said Poseidon, trying to smile, but attaining some kind of worried grimace, "Umm… you wish to speak with Tyson?"_

"_Or both of you, Uncle" Nico replied cautiously "Percy has gone missing, and nobody has been able to locate him. On Annabeth's behalf I wanted to ask Tyson to join the search," he paused, "Do you know where Percy may be?"_

_Tyson bowed his head sadly as if he already knew as much, "I will search for him. I will look all over the sea if daddy will let me,"_

_Poseidon nodded to Tyson, "Go son, and take Rainbow with you." Tyson left. "Nico, I am bound by the river Styx not to reveal certain things to demigods. Beware; Percy has gone to one of the most dangerous places - for your kind - in the world. I cannot speak of it, nor should I be speaking to you," he paused and glanced anxiously upwards, "The doors to Olympus are closing. Zeus will try to bind me to my palace. However he has overlooked something. Hera is missing from his palace and he suspects the other gods. He is angry and overlooks the happenings of the world. He wishes to believe that our father's rise and fall will be the end of the Great Stirring that has begun. Percy is taken by a plan of Hera's that may be our last chance. He is taken, transported to a new place, one where your kind has not trodden for hundreds of years. He retains little of his memory, but the spell on him is weaker than on-" Poseidon looked upwards tentatively, "-another. Things will jog his memory. He will get it back much sooner, for he will be needed soon. And you must find and protect him until such a time comes as he remembers his whole life. Now go. I will soon be bound so I cannot help you, but take my blessing and in a time of need look to your father, and his wife. If any escape the closing it will be them,"_

_Poseidon cut off the connection and Nico began the search._

And now, after months of waiting, he had found him. Nico pulled the shadows towards him, and they answered. Pitch black they gathered to him, and he used them to slip through the fabric of the world.


	2. Chapter 2 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Nico fell out into the forest he had seen through the dead half-blood. He could see dried blood on the ground and he felt his sword pulled towards it, longing to drain the remnants of a soul within but he resisted. He had a purpose here this night. He could still hear the footsteps up ahead of his, as the darkness sharpened his senses, and reached out from him to observe. He felt them move amongst the bushes, and followed matching them pace for pace, twenty metres behind and deadly silent, the shadows concealing him and deadening his sounds. The half-blood he could see ahead was grieving, but Nico was shocked. He could feel the body. The soul was still present. If Nico wished he could take it both ways, release it, or give its host life. Perhaps before the war he would have ignored this, why waste his energy? But now he knew what it was like to lose someone, and he no longer begrudged the living their loved ones. He would help this… boy? girl? He was tired, famished. He could not sense it. He kept on their tail until they broke through the tree line to see a camp of sorts.

The buildings were in two smart lines, with a large building at either end, forming a rectangle around a paved square, not a hair out of place, and an air of discipline radiated forth. The boy carrying his fallen friend headed towards a large hut with a red cross over the entrance – an infirmary. Percy followed, and Nico thought he was still in a daze until he sensed something, the power of Morpheus. It was weak, not like in Manhattan at the battle. He realised that the boy must be his son. This was interesting. A second Camp Half-Blood? But this couldn't be anywhere dangerous, half-bloods did not- well did not usually fight their own kind. However, deep inside him Nico felt a sense of foreboding. Maybe it was the mountain in the distance, home of the Titans, but they were now fallen. Nico felt like he was back at its peak in their time of power, when he had listened in on Krios, the feeling that he shouldn't be there. Danger. Enemy territory. He felt the shadows strain against his will, trying to pull him back, away from the threat. Nico put it aside for later thought, and kept himself concealed as he watched the scene before him unfold. A huge wolf stepped out in front of the boy as he neared the building. She held herself proudly, as one unaccustomed to modesty, and used to respect. However she had a presence similar to Chiron's, one of knowledge, and age. Her age seemed impossible to tell, and her fur was dark brown. Her eyes flickered over Nico and he froze, but then she looked at the half-blood, and spoke,

"George, who is this you bring? And what happened to Hazel? You were on border patrol. Has something breached the borders?"

George paused, and when he spoke, his voice cracked, "Lupa. We were on patrol when we saw something, a light in the distance, so we ran towards it. When we arrived we found this boy lying there and Hazel approached, seeking to help him. He jumped up, a sword appeared in his hand, and we drew our swords but we were no match for him, we could not land a blow, it was like facing J- him, but three of him at once. He stabbed Hazel and I used my power to subdue him and lead him back here, we thought you would know what to do," The whole time he remained straight backed almost unmoving.

"Take her to inside, where one of the Apollo soldiers will see to her, then release him," she nodded in Percy's direction, "and bring him over to the pavilion,"

George immediately ran towards a large building, carrying the girl, and the wolf left. When he returned he pointed his finger at Percy and seemed to concentrate. Percy jerked awake as if from a deep sleep, and looked confused. George spoke slowly, as if talking to an inferior being which he greatly detested, and his face resembled that of one given a horrible and unpleasant job.

He spoke in a commanding tone, "Come with me, Lupa wishes to speak with you,"

Percy looked puzzled but rose from his slouch and followed, Nico waited for them to move further away then followed at a distance. They entered the largest building, it looked like one of the ruins of the forum in Rome, his mother's city of origin, but as if restored to its former glory. Nico crept in behind them and just after he entered the large wolf, Lupa, barked an order and another wolf closed the door. Lupa spoke, but not to George,

"Did you think yourself hidden, demigod? Son of Pluto, your father's nature makes you hard to trace, and the shadows hide you from most eyes. But do not seek to trick me. The mist bends to my will, and reveals all hidden things that dare enter my camp. Who are you? Why have you come to this place?"

She seemed worried, as if she thought Nico's presence could only be a terrible thing. Nico cursed himself, before flinging the shadows into the corners of the room and standing up. He drew his sword, a metre long, wicked sharp blade crafted from stygian iron. The wolves growled and stepped back, and a look of terror spread across George's face. Nico grinned mentally, but he knew inside he was just as scared as they were.

"Why have you taken Percy? Do you seek to please the Titans? They are long gone, and your servitude will be forgotten,"

Lupa was about to answer him, when George butted in, "You dare accuse us of working for the Titan's? After what we lost fighting them? Traitor, you are most likely their lackey, come to spread discord," he drew a sword from his belt and stepped forwards.

"You accuse me of being a traitor? You, a Son of Morpheus? No offence, but have you ever heard of irony?"

"Enough!" said Lupa and a growl escaped her lips, "We did not take this demigod. He was found at our borders. Let us see what he has to say for himself before we continue, if I am right, then no one can be held to blame," She turned to Percy, "Why are you here?"

Percy seemed confused. Not his normal, missing something obvious confused, but a more genuine confusion, as if he couldn't understand anything, "I-I don't know. I can't remember. All I know is I was attacked by him," he pointed at George, "and then I woke up to find myself in this… camp?

"You see? He has no memory, as it was foretold, and the fault falls on neither party; this plan was ordained by Juno. She has a plan, which I cannot speak of here. To fulfil the unheard prophecy made by Apollo's oracle last winter. In the presence of my own campers I can say no more. George, take him away, with this half-blood. They will stay in the Mercury barracks until further notice, or when they are claimed,"

She left, leaving Nico with an angry son of Morpheus, and a clueless Percy.


	3. Chapter 3 Percy

Percy was lead by the boy who called himself George towards the centre cabin on the right hand side of the camp. He couldn't tell why, but he felt a strong sense of dread about this place as if he shouldn't be here. George kept shooting angry looks over his shoulder at Percy and the other boy, Nico. As they reached the cabin, however, Nico called to George to stop.

"We have already been claimed,"

"Of course you have," George says smirking, "By Jupiter himself, I'm sure,"

"No. Who is Jupiter? Some minor god?"

"What? No, Jupiter is king of all the gods,"

"King of the gods is Zeus,"

"Who is Zeus?"

Nico groaned, and looked quickly at Percy, "Percy, you know who Zeus is, right?"

The name sparked something, like deja vu, "Um… I think so?"

"You see, even the guy who has lost his memory knows more than you,"

As the conversation went on, Percy was getting more and more confused. The names Nico used seemed to spark some sort of memory, of a warm smile, someone proud of him, and others, feelings of respect, dread rivalry, and so on. However he was pretty sure that he had never heard of the gods George was talking about.

"Artemis and Apollo? The twin archers? You must have heard of them,"

"Of course I have heard of Apollo, God of-" George growled, "I don't have time for this. One of the Minerva barracks will explain it to you,"

He stalked off leaving Nico looking as confused as Percy felt. Unfortunately for Percy, that meant Nico could turn his attention to him,

"You're sure you don't remember anything?"

"Yeh. But sometimes, people say things, like a moment ago, and I get flashes of my memory," Percy paused, "It's also people, like I can vaguely remember you, I recognise your voice. I feel some sort of connection, like we were friends long ago, and haven't seen each other since, but that's all. I couldn't remember you name before I heard it, I don't remember anything we've done,"

Nico seemed to think for a moment, "Maybe you need to see things to regain your memory, or hear them. Do you remember the war? Fighting Luke? The time I took you to bathe in the river Styx? You cast my Dad down from his chariot, remember?"

"I'm not sure… I think-"

"Well well well, what have we here?" A huge guy had just turned up, right behind Percy. Fresh meat?" He heard the metallic _shiiiick_ of a sword being drawn, "Lets see what you're made of," He grabbed Percy by the colour of his orange shirt and dragged him towards a large circular building – A coliseum. As they went a crowd of people started to gather around them, one person shouted,

"Put him down, Matthew!"

But hid when Matthew turned. Percy could feel the rough ground beneath him as he bumped along, and felt as if this had happened before. They entered the coliseum and the crowd went up into the stands. Percy could see Nico looking smug in the front row. He heard Nico ask someone,

"Who is that?"

And be answered,

"Matthew, praetor to the Mars barracks, he's the second best fighter at camp,"

"Mars?"

"God of War,"

It sounded like Nico was laughing, "Ares. Then he's in for a nasty surprise,"

Percy was dragged away from Nico, into the centre of the arena. Then Matthew let go of me and walked a few more paces. Then he spoke,

"Draw your sword,"

Instinctively, Percy felt his hand pull a pen out of his pocket, he almost grimaced, as Matthew began too laugh, but then he felt himself uncap it and it turned into a three-foot-long glowing bronze sword. Matthew almost choked,

"Where did you get that?" his confidence had taken a hit,

"I don't remember," Percy replied truthfully,

Matthew pulled himself together and charged, sword raised overhead and Percy recognised the move, bringing his sword up to parry before flicking Matthew's upwards, and slicing for his head. Matthew had to leap back to dodge it, then he stepped forward to resume the duel, and Percy could tell he had skill, but at the same time, he could tell that if he could remember he would only be toying with him, like cat with a mouse before the kill. Then a memory came back to him. A sandy haired boy and him duelling in front of a smaller crowd, and… and a disarming move he'd used. Quickly, he brought his blade nearer to Matthew's hilt and flicked, knocking the sword from Matthew's hands, then grabbed the hilt as it dropped and help his own to Matthew's throat. The crowd went silent. Then Nico cheered, and a few others joined in. Nico stood up, and ran over to Percy, smiling knowingly.

"You remembered something,"

"How did you know?"

"Back at camp… another camp, I've heard people talk about you doing that, the fist time you picked up a sword, against Luke,"

"Luke? The sandy hired guy?"

"Yeh, that's him,"

"This other camp, why are we at this one, if you know the other camp better?"

"Lupa won't let us leave, not until you complete a quest, and… your dad, he wants you to stay here until you regain your memory. And I have to stay here with you,"

"My Dad. Poseidon, God of the Seas,"

"Yes,"

Nico pulled Percy away from the coliseum; he said they needed to visit the infirmary. When they arrived, Nico lead him to a bed where a girl lay. Percy recognised her. She had found him in the forest, and he had stabbed her. He felt a pang of sorrow and guilt, but Nico seemed to sense it, and told him it didn't matter. Then he seemed to concentrate on her, and her chest seed to start moving up and down, as if she had started to breathe again. They heard the steady thump of paws behind them and turned to see Lupa. Percy half expected a punishment for entering the infirmary without permission, but instead she just motioned for them to follow her, to the largest building, up to the top floor.


	4. Chapter 4 Percy

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

The pull to flee Percy had been feeling seemed to grow stronger as he entered the attic. The walls were old and the wall paper was peeling. Thick layers of dust clung to the floor and the wooden beams supporting the roof. The room was void of anything other than Percy, Nico, Lupa and a mirror that stood at one end of the room, which seemed to glow with a soft golden light. Lupa turned to face them and spoke,

"Demigods, I know why you have come. I have long awaited your arrival. Lord Apollo spoke to me of your coming in August at the end of the war, and he later gave me this prophecy, which I am to relay to you," Lupa's eyes misted over, and her speech became stronger, louder more forceful,

"_Three shall head north to the Mountains of Ice,_

_There to be trapped in the hidden foes vice,_

_The daughter of Ceres leads the way,_

_To reach the peak on the seventh day,_

_Death shall rise to heed the call,_

_Together they cause the giant's fall,_

_Time will be short; they shall seek him out,_

_At the foot of his sacred fount,_

_Then for Olympus the four shall make,_

_And the locks on the doors together they brake,_

You must leave this camp tomorrow, before my cubs discover your true identities. You shall take another with you, Hazel, Daughter of Ceres, the girl in the infirmary. You must give her this when she wakes, a gift from her mother. Head north, and may the gods guide you,"

Nico opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she was gone, in the blink of an eye, and a small parcel lay in her place. Nico picked it up, before turning to Percy,

"Right. I'll take this to Hazel. You go and get some rest, find a bed, ask someone where we can sleep," He turned to leave,

"Wait! What was that? Why do we need to leave all of a sudden?"

"That was a prophecy, and we had best heed both it and Lupa. I- We learnt the hard way that they always come true," His eyes clouded over, "I don't know who this Lupa is, but if she talks with Apollo then she sounds trustworthy," He made a face, "Meet me downstairs, when you know where we can sleep,"

Percy walked downstairs, and then headed outside. He caught sight of a girl with blonde hair who looked familiar, and ran up to her,

"Hey," He said, "Do you know where me and my friend are supposed to sleep?"

She turned to him, and her grey eyes seemed to be calculating his every movement, "You're new? Who is your godly parent?"

Percy had no idea where it came from, but immediately answered, "Poseidon,"

Her eyes flashed, "You mean Neptune?"

Percy was confused, again, "Neptune?"

"Yeah, Neptune is the Roman name for Poseidon, the name we use,"

"Oh. I need you to explain this to my friend. He understands more than me,"

"Sure, but tomorrow, I need to go now. The Neptune cabins that one, by the way," She pointed to a dark blue cabin nearer to the huge house.

"Thanks," Percy said before running back up to the house, where Nico stood in the shadows behind a column. "I asked someone, they said that I should sleep in the Neptune cabin over there," He pointed, "I guess you can stay with me,"

Nico grimaced but nodded, "I guess so,"

They entered the cabin, which had only two bunks in it, and looked cold and barren, and felt wrong to Percy. But judging by Nico's face, that was nothing on how he felt.

"Ok, this will have to do. Get to sleep, Percy, were going to be getting up early tomorrow," Nico took off his shoes and lay down on the bed nearest the door, as if he wanted to be able to get out easily. Percy took his shoes off, and then noticed what he was wearing. He had on a bright orange T-shirt, which said something about a sword, and some jeans. He wondered where he had got such a strange shirt, but before he had time to ponder it fully he had fallen asleep.

In Percy's dream he sat at a fire, and a young girl sat in front of him, tending the flames, he recognised her vaguely, but before he could even attempt to put a name to her, she spoke,

"Hello Percy Jackson. It has been a while since you have visited my hearth. Six months in fact,"

Percy was confused, "Umm, sorry?"

The girl smiled warmly, "Don't worry, it is of my sisters doing, I am Hestia, Goddess of Home and the Hearth," She scrunched her face up in a sort of disapproving frown, "Or Vesta, to your new friends," She looked at him, "Perhaps, now you have arrived, I can help you to remember," She rose from her crouch and looked him straight in the eyes. Suddenly, the scene before him changed, and Percy saw a younger version of himself and Nico talking to Hestia, then a sequence of visions, that depicted a young blonde haired boy Percy had seen before. It was the same boy he had seen in his earlier vision. Then he saw a young blonde girl and a raven haired girl and felt like the innermost reaches of his brain were screaming at him to remember, but yet he could not. Hestia spoke once more, "I am sorry for what my sister has done, but this is necessary. My brother is angered by you, and has shut off all communications to and from Olympus. I cannot even tend my hearth at your home, and so I must resort to dreams to speak with you. Tell Nico that he is at a Roman camp, he will understand. I bent his mind upon finding you, for he will be invaluable in aiding you to, in my sister's words, 'bridge the gap', as he is both a child of Rome and Greece. My presence is weak here for I have always preferred your kind, more kind, welcoming, a true family, over your more warlike counterparts and so I have no hearth through which I can call. I cannot stay long, for my power is weaker here, and I have little time left before my brother detects this crude form of communication. I have something I must tell you. When you leave, you will see a mountain, Mount Tamalpais. Head for it, and enter the garden at twilight. Then you must travel to the summit, and there speak with a fallen friend, before you go to the North. You have until the summer solstice in seven days Percy, you cannot afford to hesitate for to long, or another of our foes will rise, and my nephew will be in grave danger. There is little help for you on this quest, but look to my niece Artemis at night to guide you, and in the day Apollo, for only they can leave Olympus now. And you will know the right time to call on your uncle. Beware the time approaches. I will speak with you once again when I can. I must leave. Goodbye and good luck, Perseus Jackson,"

Percy felt himself fall to the ground by the fire, and slowly the light grew dimmer until everything went black. Then his eyes opened to a shaft of sunlight that illuminated the room he lay in, and he sat up.


	5. Chapter 5 Hazel

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Of all things when Hazel woke up, she did not expect to see the anxious faces of the boy who had stabbed her, and another boy she had never seen before, leaning over her. Immediately she grabbed the nearest thing to hand and swung it at her attacker but to both his and her surprise, it shattered on impact. The unknown boy spoke:

"Curse of Achilles still holds strong then," and smirking he dumped a backpack next to a clean purple shirt and her favourite pair of jeans which were lying on the floor by her bed, "Get up, we've got a job to do, I'll explain on the way,"

Looking at the boy, Hazel could see immediately he was putting on a brave face. Then she noticed George scowling from a few beds away, and went to sit by him,

"Hey," she said casually looking him in the eyes, usually he was easy to read, but today his emotions were clouded by resentment to the two other boys who were quietly discussing something at the other end of the room.

"Hi," he said caustically, still glaring at the other two, refusing to meet her eyes.

"What's wrong? And who are they?"

"They," he seemed to spit the words out, "are Lupa's two new favourites. You remember the great prophecy? Seven half-bloods, etc, etc. Well Lupa thinks that these two are a large part of that, despite the fact that one is a son of Pluto and not to be trusted, and the other can barely remember who he is,"

Hazel smirked, "So?"

"So, they turned up, stabbed you, beat our best fighters in combat, and she welcomes them with open arms, and then sends them off with you on some new quest, rather than some of the more experienced and capable others,"

"You're just jealous. You've been wanting a quest for years, and now the newbies get one before you and you just cant handle it," she smiled, "and besides, who says I'm not inexperienced, I've quested more than most,"

George looked hurt, "You know that's not what I meant, I'd never say that-"

Lupa entered the tent and spoke loudly, "Hazel, Percy, Nico, follow me,"

Hazel quickly rose and followed her, waving at George as she left the tent. Lupa lead them into the woods, where the fort defence games were often held, and took them over to a large tree, where three backpacks lay. Then she turned and spoke,

"Your time is short, you must leave now. I have prepared everything you might need There is food, money, clothes, nectar and ambrosia in the bags, as well as some denarii to call us if needs be. Good luck, may the gods protect you,"

Percy's face seemed to have scrunched up in thought, as if he was trying to remember something but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he spoke, as Lupa walked off,

"I feel as if I'm missing something, something else should be here,"

Nico went pale and when Hazel shot a questioning look at him he shook his head, _later_. They began walking through he forest.

"Let's go. We don't have much time, you can think about it later on," Nico told him. They began to march through the woods, and were silent until Nico turned to Hazel, "I guess we should start at the beginning, I'm Nico Di Angelo, Son of Ha- Pluto. He's Percy Jackson, Son of Neptune,"

"I am Hazel, Daughter of Ceres; I don't know my last name, my father died before I was born. You were about to name your father Hades, as in his Greek name. Where do you come from? I have never heard a demigod name the gods in Greek,"

"And before yesterday, I had never heard someone name the gods in Latin. I-We come from another camp; it's near New York, on long island. Its called Camp Half-Blood, another safe haven for children of the Greek gods,"

"Greek? We call them the Roman gods, that's there true origin,"

"Reyna said they were the same thing, and that it didn't matter,"

"You spoke with Reyna?"

"Yeah, this morning. She explained about the different names, but how they all mean the same god. She said that their true names were Roman though,"

"So did I," Hazel paused; contemplating. Lupa had always forbidden them from going near New York without an escort, or summons from the gods. Even last year she forbade us from entering, when the whole island fell asleep and the storms had ravaged the country. But what could be wrong with another demigod camp? Surely they were all on the same side? She noticed that Percy was watching them both with the same expression he'd had earlier, "How come he's lost his memory? The River Lethe?" Nico's face grew darker at the mention of the river.

"I don't know. Lupa thinks that it was Hera. That she took his memory, and then put him here for a purpose, something to do with the Great Prophecy that our oracle delivered last summer, about seven half-bloods, doors of death, end of the world and all kinds of other fun stuff," Hazel might have laughed, if it weren't for his expression, she got the distinct feeling that he disliked prophecies, almost hated them, but she didn't pry further. It would be rude, and she hardly knew him.

"We heard the same prophecy from Lupa," He didn't comment, looking lost in thought at some memory.

"What I want to know," he said when he finally spoke, "Is why she chose Percy. He's been through enough already, done enough. I think of all the others, and what they might have to do to attain peace, if their leader can't finally rest after what he's been through,"

"Your leader? Our camp lost our leader too. Six months ago, near Christmas, he went missing," Nico stared, "His name was Jason. He'd fought the Titans since a young age, and led our army to strike at mount Oryths, and end the war. I was there to. We fought the guard and threw down the throne, then watched him take on Krios single handed. At least yours is found," Nico had gone pale.

"It's like a swap. When this is over, ill take us to our camp. I'm pretty sure that you'll find your leader there. They both went missing at the same time. There must be a link,"

"Of course!" Hazel felt a dash of hope run through her, "There have been search parties out for months - Dakota, Gwendolyn and Bobby are still looking for him. Lupa called me back in because she wanted one of the 'veterans'," Grimace, "other than Reyna to stay behind at camp, because apparently Reyna was being 'too distracted' to deal with the other demigods. This would explain why we haven't found him yet," This was what she had been looking for, a way to find her old friend.

"The same has been happening from our side. Annabeth, Tyson, Clarisse, Grover, the Hunters, me. We've all been searching. I found him, I saw, through your eyes as your soul disconnected, I saw him lying there. I had no time to call the others, I came straight away,"

"Why does Percy led you? Because he is Son of Poseidon?"

"No," Hazel could almost feel anger against her for that assumption, "No. He is our leader because he is our best fighter, our bravest warrior. He fought the Titan Lord Kronos as he rose from Tartarus, prevented a war amongst the gods by defeating Ares, the god of war, in a duel. Then he journeyed the Sea of Monsters to save the camp, to Polymetheus's Island to get the Golden Fleece and save his best friend, then he used the fleece to strengthen the camp's weakened borders. He then saved Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt from the Titan Atlas, taking on the sky on a quest with- with my sister, Zoë Nightshade, Thalia Grace and-"

"Thalia _Grace_? _Grace_?"

"Why? What's so important about her"

"The name. That's Jason's last name. Jason Grace,"

"That's impossible. The pact. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades made a pact to have no more children, to prevent Percy's prophecy. Zeus and Poseidon broke it once each, Percy and Thalia. Believe you me, if Thalia had a brother, then we would have known about it, Kronos would have known about it,"

"He did, but so what? Why would it be so important?"

"The last Great Prophecy. That a child of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades would save or destroy the world. It turned out to be Percy, but me, Thalia and… and my sister were targeted," Something in his eyes burned with sorrow, and hatred, but it seemed to be quelled. He looked quickly at Percy and did a double take; Percy was staring at him.

"Bianca. Your sister's name is Bianca," Percy's eyes misted over, "I remember, in the junk yard. She sacrificed herself to save us and then I had to tell you," He looked at Nico, but Nico was looking in the opposite direction, "I remember talking about it with you,"

Nico remained silent, brooding, and kept stealing sideways glances at Percy as if expecting him to say more. They had reached a road, and Percy stopped, looking to left, up the road he could see a city, a thick layer of smog above it and the misty Mt Tam in the background. Then he spoke,

"We should go this way. I think I know someone there. He can help us,"

"Who is it," Nico looked perplexed,

"I don't know his name, I can't remember. But he knows me. I remember here, on that quest. Just before…" he stopped talking, looking up at the now darkened sky, at the faintly glowing stars,

"Before what?" Hazel asked, even more confused than Nico,

"That name, Zoë Nightshade. I remember now. Hestia talked to me last night. I need to go to the top of that mountain. I need to talk with her,"

"I've been there; you can't talk to the stars. All that stands there now is Atlas, with his burden, and the ruins of the Titan's citadel. It'll waste our-"

Nico stopped her with a glare, "If he gets a hunch, we should follow it, _especially_ if a goddess shows him favour. At the least, being at the mountain could jog his memory, and it is nearer to the city,"

"But I will take hours to get there, back the way we've come at least twice over,"

"No it won't, not with me here. Grab my hands, both of you," They did as they were bidden, and Nico pulled them into the shadows.


	6. Chapter 6 Hazel

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Hazel felt as if she had been dunked in cold water at high speed and a huge hand had tried to pull her face off from behind, in pitch darkness. Suddenly, she could see again, albeit only a few feet, and she fell to he ground in front of the two boys, coughing and spluttering. Nico spared her apologetic glance before turning to the mountain, and Percy had the same strained look on his face. He finally spoke,

"I remember this place, Atlas is through here,"

They walked up the long path they had appeared on, and could see a large garden below them, with a huge apple tree - the tree bearing the Apples of Immortality, Juno's wedding gift to Zeus. She could see the stars more clearly here, the huntress stood out before her, the new constellation they had all noticed two and a half years ago. Percy finally entered a huge, cracked black marble building, the last standing in s sea of black obsidian rubble. It was one huge room, circular. Hazel had seen it during the attack, but no-one had entered. In its very centre stood a man in Greek battle armour which constantly shifted between the form of armour and an Italian suit, as if the wearer was so taxed he could not keep his appearance together, with a huge black mass bearing down upon him.

"Atlas, bearing the sky," Percy spoke up, "This is where we will speak to Zoë, at midnight, when the stars shine brightest. Until then we should wait here,"

Nico walked up to Percy, "How come you remember this, but nothing else?"

"I'm not sure. I think, when Hera took my memory, she left me certain memories that would be easier for me to uncover, like my mind is a book. Some pages are stuck firmly with glue, but other parts are only stuck lightly, like with blue tack. It's easier to get to those, I just need something to set them off," He looked at Atlas, "Like him. I remember the fight, He knocked Zoë aside, Artemis tripped him and I let go of the sky, so that it fell upon him,"

"You held the sky? As in, you held it up, on your own shoulders?" Hazel was shocked. She'd heard tell of Atlas, cursed to bear the sky's unimaginable weight alone forever. She couldn't imagine having to hold it on her own shoulders, she was only a half-blood, and she had thought it would have killed her almost instantly, but here was a boy, not much taller than her, who had held it at the age of 14. She looked at him with a new kind of respect. As she contemplated this, Atlas seemed to stir from a kind of slumber.

He looked up and saw them, and his expression turned to one of pure hatred, "What do you want, Jackson? You dare return to my presence? After what you did to me? One day I will be freed again from my burden, and then I shall destroy you!"

Hazel shouted at him, "te futeo, et equum tuum!" just as Nico seemed to shout the something similar in Greek,

"Pigainete sto korakia!"

Atlas looked murderous, but spoke calmly, which, to Hazel, made him seem even more terrifying, "A child of Rome, I haven't had the misfortune to come across one of your kind for many years," He smirked, "What business do you have with the Greeks? They are your sworn enemies,"

"I don't know what you're talking about. They are not my enemies,"

"So you believe. Standing up here, I hear the whispers of the winds. I know what is going on in the world, at the Greek camp; they construct a great ship, the Argo II, that ill sail to your camp within the next few months. Tell me, as the ship pulls into your camp, that your friends will not attack them. That none of them will attack their Greek counterparts, who you have fought for centuries,"

Hazel remained silent, Nico ignored Atlas, and looking at a watch he held in his hands he spoke, "It is time, and Zoë will come to us now." As he spoke, a silver mist seemed to come from the sky. I weaved its way down, like a translucent, silvery red carpet and down it walked a girl who Hazel had never seen before. She was tall and slim, with long black hair braided and twisted intricately around a silver band in her hair; she carried a silver hunting bow in her hand and as her eyes crossed all three of them, Hazel recognise the same regal features that Atlas had, a family resemblance. She looked guiltily at Nico, swept her eyes over Hazel as if she was not there, and then smiled at Percy, who had kneeled before her. She spoke to him, in an old accent,

"Rise Percy Jackson, if anything, I should bow to thee,"

Percy rose to his feet and looked at her, "Zoë,"

"Alas, you have lost thy memory," She said, "Do not despair, it will return to thee in time. I believe you seek my aid?"

Nico stepped forward to save Percy from speaking, "We need help. Today is June the fifteenth. We have to complete our prophecy by the summer solstice, and we need to know what were up against,"

"As my father below me, I see and hear much. My mistress' hunters scour the country under the leadership of Thalia Grace. They seek thee, Percy, but they must not discover thy location. You are not ready to be unveiled by them. Th-," she paused, a sarcastic smile on her face, "_Yerr_ journey must remain hidden. You must journey to the Hyperborean mountains, and face my lord Hephaestus' foe. I can tell you little of that encounter, nor of what is to precede it, save this: The Giants have risen, and you must face them. Thy foe shall be Mimas, born to face the fire lord. One of thy fathers must aid thee in this plight, for only together can he be defeated. You, and others, must slay as many giants as possible, before the final battle. Only Agrius and Thoas remain buried, as the fates decree. You must hurry. We must hurry. I shall break the seal of death upon as have others. I will lead several back to the lives they once lead, now that the doors of death have opened. By the laws of your father, Nico, and those of the fates, if the doors open for one side, they open for all. I will see you soon, in two days at most. And Percy, when you reach your contact, in the city, it is imperative that he does not tell others of your arrival," She shot Nico a glance, assuring that he would help, "Lady Hestia will guide you thy goals, and I will see thee soon. Fare thee well."

Before any of them could ask anymore of her, she faded to starlight and disappeared.

"Where are we going?" Hazel asked timidly, still slightly intimidated by the starry figure she had borne witness to,"

"To visit a man called Dr. Chase,"

**Chapters 4, 5 and 6 were put up in quick succession, so you may need to go back a bit. Sorry if I wrote Zoë really badly :P**


	7. Chapter 7 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Over the years, Nico had heard little about Dr. Chase, other than that he was Annabeth's father, that Annabeth had run away from him aged seven, and that he was a mean shot in a Sopwith Camel. But Percy seemed to remember him as trustworthy, and so Nico followed him down into the city to an average looking house. Percy knocked on the door, and a man opened it. He had sandy-coloured hair, and deep brown eyes. He took a moment to register there presense, before jumping back in surprise.

"Percy?" he said, "What are you doing here? I thought you were missing,"

Nico stepped in to save his befuddled cousin, "He is sir, Hera took his memory. We need your help, and you can't tell Annabeth about it. We need some way to get up north fast,"

"And you two are?" he asked, looking confused,

"Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades. That's Hazel, Daughter of Dem- Ceres,"

Even though Dr. Chase knew little about the demigod world, and his civilisation had given up on the Greek gods almost two thousand years ago, he still gave an involuntary shiver at the mention of Hades. Inwardly, Nico smirked. "So I can't even tell Annabeth?"

"No. Nobody can know about us, we need to remain secret. Do you have a car we could borrow? I'd take us myself, but I taking three people that far would put me in a coma for at least a week. And we only have a week,"

"Umm… sure I guess, you can take my car. But I want two things. First, when you can, you need to explain all this to Annabeth. Second, Percy, don't destroy it this time, ok? This one is almost brand new,"

Percy smiled, "Sure,"

"Do you want to come in? Were about to eat, but I'm sure Helen can rustle something up for you,"

"Thanks for the offer, but we need to get going, we only have until the 21st,"

"Do you need me to drive? None of you look old enough,"

"No sir. Percy has a learners licence,"

Dr. Chase sighed. "Fine, I guess. Off you go then. And please take care of the car,"

They thanked him again and he handed them the keys, before climbing into the Ford Focus parked in the driveway.

"And he gives you the keys, just like that?" asked Hazel,

"Sure. He doesn't really know me or you, but Percy is his daughter's boyfriend, and he saved her life. I guess he trusts Percy enough at least,"

Percy started the car, and tried to pull out of the drive. The car wouldn't move.

"The handbrakes on, that leaver there,"

Hazel looked accusingly at Nico, "How would you know?"

He laughed, "You hear things in the underworld. Every person who ever lived ends up at some point in Erebus, and believe you me, some of the old racing drivers just don't shut up once you get them going."

Hazel nodded but looked thoughtful. Nico sighed, and watched as the landscape seemed to slide past more and more smoothly as Percy got used to driving. They hit the motorway and he sped up. As Nico watched, the landscape slowly got darker and darker. The moon rose, full and pure white over the horizon. Nico concentrated, using the darkness to improve his eyesight so he could look through the mist, and saw Santa's slay pulled by reindeer, and a figure that stood upon it. He smiled, but then grimaced, remembering his sister. He felt the anger within him start to stir and boil, an old grudge reawakening, and before he could quell it, he felt pure hatred rise up. Suddenly, the figure and the sleigh seemed to slow down, and the glow it was giving off grew dimmer and darker. Hazel gasped,

"What's happening to the moon?"

Percy turned and looked straight at Nico, "Calm down Nico. It's not her fault, stop it. Forgive her Nico." But it wasn't Percy speaking. His eyes had turned to a warm, homely brown, and the car was driving itself. He looked at him on a different level, and could see the aura of Hestia superimposed upon Percy's sea green. He felt the anger recede until he felt nothing but guilt towards Artemis and her hunters. Percy returned to normal, and the car swerved out of control; they smashed into a tree at the roadside and the engine exploded. Hazel had fainted and Nico pushed he head first out of the car before leaping out himself. Percy jumped out and Nico through him a bottle of water,

"What am I supposed to do with this?" asked Percy, perplexed as usual.

"Control it, put the fire out!" Nico's voice was horse, the smoke entering his lungs.

Percy opened the water bottle and flung the water out before timidly raising his hands, making a pulling outwards motion. The water expanded, three, four five times the volume, then it fell across the car and tree and put out the flames. Percy gasped, and doubled over in pain; Nico ran to him.

"I don't think I've done that in a while," he wheezed, "I'm out of practice,"

"No," Nico smiled, "But you sure as hell saved our bacon,"

"What about Hazel?"

"She'll be fine, we just need to give her time. We'll stop here for the night before we get to tired. Get the tent out of my bag and we'll put it up,"

Why on earth, Nico thought, did the person who invented tents have to make them so ridiculously hard to put up? They had been working on it for half an hour, and now finally they were finished. He looked up at Percy and spoke,

"Finally,"

Percy smiled, and then looked at the car, "What should we do tomorrow? Dr. Chase is going to kill me,"

"We can't drive it any more. Sorry Percy. This is my fault, if I hadn't done… whatever I just did Hestia wouldn't have had to intervene, and we would still be driving,"

"Wait, Hestia came? What happened, I thought I fell asleep,"

"Don't worry, it's done with now. I can't shadow travel us, even though were much closer now, but I know someone who can,"

"Who?"

Nico smiled, "An old friend,"


	8. Chapter 8 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Nico woke the others up early the next morning, and helped them pack the tent. Then he looked around the site. The car and tree were still permanently welded together, and smoking in harmony. The grass was long and vivid green, and there were several large logs lying around.

Nico raised a hand to his lips and wolf whistled, thinking of the huge black dog he was summoning. He felt an answer and then he felt the shadows begin to twist like they did when another creature shadow travelled. He heard a scream, and heavy panting and opened his eyes to see Hazel pulling a long knife from a sheath around her lower back. Before he could stop her, she leapt and plunged the dagger deep into the hide of the enormous hellhound who had Percy pinned to the ground. He watched in horror as Mrs. O'Leary disintegrated before him, until her only remains were some golden dust and the drool on Percy's face.

"What do you think you're doing!" he yelled at her,

"Saving his sorry life, that's what! Did you see the size of that thing? It could have eaten him in one bite!"

"That _thing_, was our ride. She was Percy's pet hellhound, and now its going to take forever for her to reappear. Great. Now we can walk."

"How was I supposed to know? Who the Hades has a pet hellhound?"

"The Her-"

"Umm, guys? I don't mean to interrupt, but is that normal?" Percy broke in. The golden dust was slowly knitting itself back together. The specks began to clump, seeming to tarnish and grow dark. Slowly, the massive hellhound stood before them again. Mrs. O'Leary, seemingly unfazed by the experience, leapt forwards to lick Nico.

In between licks, Nico managed to get out, "This… Is… Bad," He pushed Mrs. O'Leary off of him, and he focused on her mind, sedating her, so she lay down on the ground beside them.

"How is that possible," Hazel looked terrified now, "Monsters _always_ take time to reform, _always_,"

"I don't know. But there's something else. It's been nearly a day and a half, and we're yet to be attacked. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that that's abnormal."

"It is," Hazel looked around cautiously, "We need to keep up a guard. Because the most likely thing is, were going to have loads of fun surprises when we get up north,"

"Let's get there first. Percy, get up. I want you to climb onto Mrs. O'Leary with Hazel, and tell her to take you to Juneau, Canada,"

"What about you?"

"I can make it myself. I'm fine alone, but other people are too tiring,"

"Ok, I guess we'll see you there,"

Nico heard Percy whisper to Mrs. O'Leary, and then felt them slip off towards their destination. Nico smiled. Then he concentrated on Kluane National Park, and pulled himself towards his destination.

Nico stopped himself halfway, in the realm of shadows to think. Usually, Percy went out and did all the stupid things to save the day. But this time, Nico was going to be the one taking the risk. He'd never, ever tell Percy, but Nico had always looked up to him, as an elder brother rather than a cousin. And now it was gong to be his turn to earn some respect. Half of camp still thought of him as a weirdo, an outsider, just because of his parentage, even though he had saved all their sorry lives in the war. So now was Nico's chance to prove himself, when Percy wasn't able to hold him back. He willed himself forwards again, on, to his destination.

In the distance, Nico could see a huge mountain, and he could feel the heat energy radiating out from it. He took a step towards it, when he heard a loud bark from behind. A Labrador sprung out, followed by a pack of wolves.

"Good work, Laelaps," Someone snarled from the back. Nico could see an unsavoury man who was covered in filth. He had greasy hair, huge muscles and his eyes were a piercing red. "And so we find the Son of Hades. All alone, in a land he has never visited. This time we will not fail. Attack!"

The wolves all growled and left forwards as one. They surrounded Nico, and he concentrated on the ground. Seven skeletal warriors clawed their was into the realm of the living, hunters from medieval Norway, the most efficient wolf killers in history. Immediately they began to attack, but it was as if their weapons could cause no damage to their enemies. They were just like a wall between Nico and some of the wolves. A wall that would break soon. One wolf on his side of the circle seemed braver than the others and attacked him; Nico drew his sword and beheaded the beast in one swift, fluid motion. Or tried to. The wolf was knocked aside, but it just stood up again, angrier than before. The man laughed,

"Hah, you expected to fight us, the greatest of our kind? Gold, Steel, Bronze and Iron have no effect on us, even as nice a sword as yours. Kill him!"

Suddenly Nico got the feeling again, the one of intense hatred. Who did this man think he was? The anger boiled up, until the wolves cowered in fear of him. Another surge and the nearest began to disintegrate. Slowly, the aura pushed outwards. The wolves seemed to scream in agony, trying to escape an invisible killer. Then they were gone, not even their golden ashes remained. Nico relaxed, and noticed that the man still stood before him, lurking in the shadows,

"What was that? I will not fail again! My Master will have you!"

He leapt forward, and Nico felt something hard bash his head. His vision blurred, and he fell to the ground. Before slipping into peaceful unconsciousness, he had one last thought; _maybe this is why we let it be Percy's job_.

**Sorry for the next few chapters to anybody who lives anywhere near the areas I attempt to describe :P I've never been there, I live in the UK and the only experience I have of America or Canada that I can base this on is two weeks in Vancouver, and two in Newfoundland.**


	9. Chapter 9 Percy

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

Percy fell of Mrs. O'Leary as she pulled out in a snow covered town somewhere up north. He shivered before glancing at Hazel. She had managed to keep her balance atop the huge dog Nico had called Mrs. O'Leary, but was looking a little on the green side.

He looked at his surroundings more closely, and saw that they were on the outskirts of town. The snow formed a light dusting on the roofs over the street they stood in, and nobody seemed to be around. Then a girl behind them spoke,

"Percy,"

He turned to see Zoë, who equated to half of the people he knew from his past life. She wore the same silvery clothes as before, but this time she looked solid, physical. Behind her stood another girl and a boy. The girl had pale olive skin, warm brown eyes and black hair, and bore a striking resemblance to Nico. She carried a silver bow and wore the same silver clothes as Zoë. The boy had short blonde hair, a fairly short, lean figure and also carried a bow, smaller than the girls' but laced with gold. Zoë spoke again,

"These are Bianca Di Angelo, and Lee Fletcher. We are the first of our forces to leave Hades realm. I shall escort them back to camp soon, and explain to Chiron. But first I must talk with thee. I have spoken with Chiron already, by means of an Iris message. He told me of something worrying - the Giants have risen. The camp prepares for war and-"

Bianca stepped in, "Wait a minute, where is Nico? Zoë told me he was with you,"

"He said he'd bring himself," Hazel told her,

"He should be here by now… unless… gods no,"

"What?"

"He's gone on ahead by himself. Curse him; I haven't spoken to him in two years and already my little brothers getting on my nerves!"

"We'll find him, Bianca. Then I'll take you back to camp,"

Hazel decided it was about time she got some answers and slipped in, "Wait a minute. Time out. Where is this other camp? Nobody tells me anything, and I want to get a few things strait. What is the other camp, and why is it separate from ours? And what in Pluto's name happened to Percy?"

Zoë looked Hazel up and down before speaking, "Our, or their, camp is near New York, where Olympus now sits. I cannot tell thee, or any other who is yet to take a hunter's oath anymore, lest I impact the course of things to greatly and ruin my Lady Hera's plan. About Percy however, I can tell thee more. His father is Poseidon, God of the Seas, and his father was opposed to what has happened to his son, but it appears he made Lady Hestia-"

"His patron," A shimmering figure of the young girl Percy had spoken to in his dreams, "I appealed to the side of him that once sought me out as a wife. My sister's plan is ridiculously flawed, Athena watches with scorn even now from Olympus. However it _must_ work. This is our last hope, however much relies on you again, Percy, which angers my brother. However he does not clamp down on Hera's affiliation with Jason, and therefore Athena, your father and I put our heads together, and decided on this,"

"And memory loss was necessary why?"

"The Romans are an unforgiving, unforgetting enemy. Any clue of who you really were and where you came from had to be removed. But your memories will be necessary. Therefore, I forced Mnemosyne to leave some of your memories more accessible. My brother however, was less eager to ignore _my_ meddling, so I must leave before he discovers this little… chat," She looked at Zoë, "Send them for his son, then to his mountain," Percy averted his eyes by force of habit as she left, before looking at Zoë,

"Who is _he_?"

"Alas it is as I feared. You must head north, to the tallest peak in Canada, Mount Logan. That is where your enemy lies. He is draining the energy of a power beyond our imagination, which, as far as we know, has lain dormant since the dawn of our reality,"

"Who?"

"Names have power Percy, but you will meet him soon enough. His son, however, lives nearby. His name is James, and he lives with his adoptive parents outside town. You need to find him before our enemies' sense his presence, which is likely since their forces are now centred around this area. We need him on our side, to gain his father's favour. Head north, until you reach a large clearing. There will be a hut there, ask to speak to him and explain what you can and then bring him back here. And be careful. You may have had little to face so far, but I can assure you that the next few days will be wrought with perils. Lee, Bianca and I will remain here to see if Nico eventually decides to come back,"

Percy and Hazel left the group and wandered into the forest. Immediately Hazel seemed more awake, as if she was drawing strength from the plants around them. She turned her head slightly to the left and said,

"This way,"

"How do you know?" Percy asked, perplexed as usual,

She shrugged, "I usually do when I'm in a forest. I know north, south, east, west, where the nearest buildings are, my exact location, that kind of stuff. It's like I hear the trees, but not aloud, in my mind,"

"Ok," Percy didn't really know what to say. As far as he knew, he'd never met another daughter of Demeter, so couldn't compare. He wondered if Nico knew his way around underground places, children of Zeus the sky and himself the sea. He followed Hazel wordlessly, watching as she wove in and out of the trees, seeming to be able to distinguish between what Percy saw as a sea of identical plants. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn he saw several girls running through the woods, their skin a pale green. Percy liked Hazel. She didn't need every moment to be filled with speech like some of the people who he had met in his brief time at camp. She was content to do her own thing, but at the same time always had something good to input into a conversation, and seemed able to steer it in the direction she wanted. He was jolted from his ponderings when she turned suddenly and put a finger to her lips.

"Were here," she whispered,

"They had reached an open clearing that was fenced off. Snow clung to the garden of the shabby house that sat at its centre. It seemed deserted. Percy walked up to the door and knocked loudly. Nobody answered. He saw Hazel creep up to one of the frosted windows and peer inside.

"It's empty,"

Percy was about to ask if they should come back later, when Hazel walked up to the door and pulled a long, thin twig out of her sleeve. She pushed it into the lock, and seemed to concentrate. Then she twisted it, and pulled it out of the door. The twig had changed shape. It now resembled a metal key, except mottled brown rather than shiny. She pushed the door quietly and walked inside. Percy followed could hear something, like a muffled breathing, and was had begun to speak when the peavefull illusion was torn asunder. A man grabbed him by the neck, and tried twisting his head around. Instinctively Percy pushed his hands behind his head and pulled down, shoving his chin between the man's muscle and bone. He gasped and released him. Percy drew his sword and held it to the man's throat. The man spoke,

"Lower your sword! Who do you think you are, to threaten the Prince of Ethiopia?" The man looked to be Mediterranean, like the other demigods Percy knew. He bore a crown upon his head, and wore regal robes that looked several thousand years out of fashion.

"Prince of Ethiopia?"

"Yes. It is I, the great Phineus. Leave now, before my guards destroy you,"

Several men in wearing battle armour stepped out, swords drawn.

"Wait a second, Phineus? As in the Phineus who attempted to kill Perseus? You died thousands of years ago," Hazel said, looking scared,

"The very same. And I shall reclaim my kingdom once I have done a little favour for my master. And to think, all I need to do is bring this insignificant demigod to them." He indicated a boy who had been trussed up and was held over the shoulder of one of the guards, "Now, get out of my way!"

Percy and Hazel remained immobile. Phineus sneered down upon them, before ordering his guards to attack. Two attacked Hazel, and she leaped backwards, drawing a sword and huge rectangular shield, seemingly from thin air. Before he had time to ponder this however, three of them attacked him. With reflexes honed from what must have been years of training in his unremembered past, he blocked the first strike on his expanding shield, which he had not realised had begun to open, or that it even existed. He uncapped his sword, and intercepted a second strike. The men were slow compared to what he felt accustomed to, like they were years out of practice. Percy spun his sword, deflecting a blow, before slamming the pommel of his sword into the forehead of his first assailant. The other two fell back, defensive, unnerved by his swift and cleanly executed attack. He went onto the offensive, slicing at the neck of one of his opponents, causing them to jump back. He parried a swipe aimed for his head, and then performed a standard execution, beheading his target and stabbing him in the heart. Two down. The last tried to back up, but he leapt forwards, grabbing the man's weapon and then bringing down the pommels of both swords on either side of his head. The guard crumpled. Percy turned to see Hazel still fighting her adversaries. He felt it would be rude to intervene, he felt as if helping a girl only made her angrier with you for some reason. He watched as Hazel fought and noticed that he style was completely different to his. Instead of a constant flow between offence and defence, she seemed to concentrate completely on defending herself, only attacking when the timing was perfect. He watched as she parried, blocked and dodged with seemingly endless patience and discipline, before finally she disarmed her opponent. Her style confused Percy. The two people he had seen fighting from the camp had completely different styles, Hazel was almost wholly defence, and Matthew had been all about offence. He was about to ask her something when Phineus, completely forgotten spoke;

"Very well. I will leave the demigod here. You have beaten me this time, Perseus Jackson, but next time I shall unleash the full fury of my forces upon you and you _will_ not survive," He fled the building, leaving the demigod, Zoë had named him James, tied up in the corner. Hazel began to untie him, and Percy spoke,

"Where did you learn to fight like that? It looks so wrong,"

She laughed, "I could ask you the same question, but that's how most of us fight at camp. Don't get hurt, tire your enemy. How did you learn to fight anyway? Matthew was one of our best fighters, at least the best in close combat left at camp, and you beat him easily. Your styles unusual, we usually go all defence or all offence,"

"No idea. Ask Nico, he seems to know everything,"

Hazel had finished untying James, but he was unconscious. Percy finally got a good look at him. He looked European, but north European like English, Norwegian or Swedish. His hair was black, and his eyes were a dark brown, almost black. He was tall and average build, and looked pretty average overall. Percy slung him over one shoulder and stepped out of the hut first. Hazel followed him looking around warily. Then she spoke,

"I don't like using a sword anyway, I prefer a bow."

"Why don't you use one then?"

"Rules. Lupa gets really strict. She doesn't have time to teach so many of us, so each cabin learns to use one weapon by tradition. Like Mars use spears, Apollo bows, and so on,"

"That's stupid. Why don't you just use what feels best?"

"We've been at war for almost five years. We don't have time to procrastinate over choosing a weapon. I'm lucky. Dakota's sometimes let me use his bow when he was on other assignments; most people get stuck on a single weapon for the rest of their time,"

"That's stupid,"

She smiled at him and began to lead him back through the woods. The moon rose, and shone above them, illuminating the area around them in a soft, dappled light. But something wasn't right. The area smelt of rotting flesh. The ground was covered in footprints, but the leaves beneath them were dead decayed, even thought the footprints were fresh. Suddenly Percy heard a low growl. A wolf stepped out of the trees. Then another. And another. More and more joined them, filling the area around them, creating a sea of hulking bodies. Then out stepped a man. He was hidden in shadow, so only his clawed, blood caked hands were visible. He spoke,

"Fools. You step into my trap after trap, just like that foolish Son of Hades. No-"

"Where is Nico?"

"Safe. For now. But soon we shall add you to our collection, and then our masters will rise,"

Hazel glared at him, "Never,"

"In a million years? Since the first triumph of the gods, no enemy has ever succeeded against them. But their million years is up. Now the world will be reclaimed, for the children of Gaia!"

The wolves circled them before attacking. Percy's shield expanded, and his sword grew in his hands. He slashed at the first wolf, but to no avail. It fell to the ground before jumping back up again unharmed. Then another attacked him, and all he could do was punch it back. But he could feel himself begin to tire, as if had not exercised in a long time, and was paying the consequences when he finally moved again. His arms ached. His legs began to buckle. But he felt no pain as the wolves scraped across his skin. He fell to the ground, facing up, mobbed by wolves. The boy, James, lay nearby; on the ground where Percy had dropped him. The man in the shadows held Hazel, trussed up, struggling. He stared at Percy, who lay exhausted on the ground, but seemed unharmed by the razor sharp claws of the wolves, and looked confused. Then Percy saw his nose twitch, and his head turned, as if he was trying to listen to something. Then he growled.

There was a flash, and a silver arrow hit one of the wolves on top of Percy. Then another, then another. The wolves fell, as corn before the scythe, on top of Percy, and he had no energy left to push them off. The man screamed,

"Hunters. Leave this place. These are my prizes, and you are unfit to hunt them. There are rabbits on the hill over there, maybe they are more to your standard,"

A girl's voice, which Percy's mind begged him to recognise, came from the trees. Or somewhere around him. It was as if it came from everywhere, it was impossible for him to place the direction.

"We do not hunt demigods, Lycaon. We hunt beasts, monsters, abnormalities. Like you. Leave now. Or you will once more feel the sting of our arrows,"

Percy judged that the 'sting of their arrows' must be an unpleasant experience, as Lycaon flinched at the remembrance of old memories. Then he dropped Hazel and turned tail to flee, the three remaining wolves followed him. A flash of silver from the trees caught his eye, and he watched from a small hole in the pile of dead wolves. A group of what looked like girl scouts in silver clothes stepped out. They bore no weapons that Percy could see, and were headed by a raven haired girl, who had another girl with black hair by her side.

"Phoebe, tend to the demigods. Rose, dispose of the bodies. Lycaon is crippled. This is only half his brood, another fifty would be here had they still been alive. We have an ally somewhere,"

The girl next to her ran to Hazel, lifting her with strength that contradicted her size, and laid her down beside James. She then pulled a pouch from her rucksack which Percy could have sworn wasn't there before and began to do something to them. The other girls save one began to set up a camp. The remaining girl, apparently Rose stepped first to the pile of bodies under which Percy lay, and pulled of the first wolf. At her touch, it began to glow. Then it disintegrated into a sprinkle of powder in a burst of golden light. She looked down at the pile, only to see Percy lying there. She screamed.

"THALIA!"

"What?"

"Come over here. It's him. We've found him!"

There was a collective gasp and the sound of running feet. The girl with raven hair looked down at him,

"Percy. Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon. We've found you at last,"


	10. Chapter 10 Percy

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

The girl, Thalia, extended her hand towards Percy, who took it. She pulled him up and grinned massively at him. Percy's head exploded in pain, and he grasped it in his hands. Memories forced their way through the barrier, like the tides: uncontrollable, unpredictable. The girls face flashed before him. He saw the quest again, the one with Zoë, but this time Thalia was there. Fighting the Nemean Lion. Riding a shield down a mountain side. Staring up at two huge statues. And flying a Pegasus across America. Then it jumped forwards. He saw himself but older than he had been before. Thalia again, talking about cheeseburgers. More memories flashed through his mind, her trapped beneath a statue, a grand restaurant with him, Thalia and another girl. A game in the woods, Thalia pinned to the ground beneath his sword, a flag over his shoulder. And then back to present. His eyes began to clear, and he saw a worried look on her face, as she held him from the ground,

"Are you ok Percy?"

"Sure, fine,"

"What was that?"

"Memories,"

"Huh? You mean like Jason?"

"Jason?" The sad part was, Percy had no idea whatsoever if he should know this person or not. Just another perk of losing your memory.

"Oh I forgot," he grimaced, "You wouldn't know, I'll explain it later,"

"Um… ok. But I don't have time right now. I need to get Hazel up, James to Zoë, th-"

Thalia looked shocked, the hunters stepped back,

"Zoë, as in Zoë Nightshade?"

"Yeah, why?"

The hunters looked at him scornfully,

"Does your brother hallucinate too Thalia?"

"Impossible,"

"I always thought he had a screw loose,"

"Shut up!" Thalia shouted at them, and they all obeyed her, "What do you mean Percy? Zoë died about three years ago,"

"I don't know, she just turned up on Mt. Tam, and then again in a town nearby,"

"Did she say anything?"

"Something about the doors of death,"

"The doors of death?"

"I don't know, ask her when we get there,"

"The town's name?"

"Juneau,"

Thalia looked upwards, before beginning to walk at a brisk pace to the right. The hunters followed her, unquestioning. Four of them carried Hazel and James on their shoulders, two limbs apiece. Percy followed at the back, trying to organise the thoughts and memories swirling around his head. Thalia was his cousin. She had gone on a quest with him aged fourteen, with Bianca, Zoë and a satyr. She'd fought with him in a big battle. And been his friend for years. But something was bothering him. Something, or someone that had been at the edge of his mind for as long as he could remember, but couldn't pin down.

They reached the snowy edges of the town to see Zoë and the others waiting anxiously for them. One of the hunters, Thalia had called her Phoebe, squealed and ran up to her, quickly followed by the thirty or so other girls. Percy was sure that every monster for miles around could hear them, but the girls didn't seem to care. They bombarded Zoë with questions, which were way too fast for Zoë to hear. A few smiled at Bianca, but Lee was ignored, not that he seemed to care. Bianca still looked anxious, and Percy noticed that Nico still hadn't turned up, but then he remembered what the man, Lycaon, had said to him,

"Bianca, I think I know where Nico is,"

That grabbed her attention, "Where?"

"You know the mountain that Hestia was talking about? There. I could see it in the distance and this wolf-guy we were fighting ran off towards it, and he said he had Nico,"

Zoë looked at him, "Good idea. We should head out soon. At dawn,"

"Wait a second. Percy, I need to take you back to camp. Then, when Annabeth sees you, and starts acting normal again, you can come back out again,"

"No," Zoë told her, "He must be kept a secret. Our enemies still don't know where he's gone. And he has a mission to fulfil, while he still has that advantage. And there's something you need to do as well. Go back to camp, and tell them this, say that our mistress sent you a message. Tell them to get their army ready for war. Tell them that the giants will have an army, and therefore so must the seven. Then prepare yourselves,"

"I can't not tell Annabeth, have you seen her these days? She's a wreck. She keeps a strong face, but I know her better. She has been obsessive over finding Percy for six months, trying to find the roman camp. She knows how long it is since he went missing, down to the last second. I can't leave her like that knowing its in my power to stop it,"

"Wait a second, who is Annabeth?"

Thalia looked like she was about to burst into tears and punch him at the same time, then she seemed to get the better of herself and just looked at him sadly before she answered,

"Someone important. Hopefully you'll remember soon,"

The group looked at him sadly, but nobody said anything. Then the hunters began putting up tents. Or rather they chucked some squares on the floor and tents appeared. Percy was put in one with Lee, and the girls all went in the others. Lee looked at Percy, then spoke,

"You don't remember anything?"

"Bits and pieces,"

He groaned, "So you can't tell me anything?"

"About what?"

"What happened in the war, you know, after I… died," He seemed edgy,

"Umm… not really. If I do, I'll tell you though,"

He sighed, "Great,"

Lee lay down to sleep, but Percy sat and looked at the side of the tent. He didn't know if he was ever going to remember. He got flashes sometimes, so he could remember some people, but mostly it just made him more confused, because he couldn't remember why things were happening, or the events that preceded them. And it was all so confusing. Phoebe walked in, laying James on the floor next to Lee, and Percy looked at him, beginning to ponder who he might be

Percy woke up hours later. He couldn't tell when he had fallen asleep. His back ached, where he had sat upright for hours. Lee had already left the tent. He could hear him outside, and what sounded like Bianca talking. He rose, cracking his back, and went outside. The sun wasn't up, and the night air was cool, soothing and moist. Zoë stepped out of the tent, followed by Thalia, Phoebe, Rose and the other hunters. They began speaking their goodbyes. Thalia gave Percy one last pained look before she melted into the shadows of the trees. Bianca waved, them followed them.

Zoë spoke then, "I will take you to the mountain, but I am afraid you must journey up alone. I will take Lee to camp, and meet you there,"

Hazel crawled out of the tent then, looking groggy, as if she had slept badly. Zoë looked at her kindly.

Hazel groaned, "What happened? And _quis in Gaea_ is going on? Do you know what time it is?"

"Nearly dawn. You got beaten up pretty badly but you're ok now. It's nearly dawn. Were going north to Mount Logan, to find Nico,"

There was a bang in the other tent, and a loud profanity. Percy realised he had completely forgotten about James, who tumbled outside rubbing his head,

"Are you alright?"

"Who the Hell are you?"

"Percy Jackson, or so I'm told,"

Zoë smiled, "I am Zoë Nightshade, and these are Hazel and Lee Fletcher,"

"What the Hell is going on?"

"We saved you, from Phineus," Hazel broke in,

"And Phineus is…?"

"The Prince of Ethiopia, from around two and a half-thousand years ago,"

"Right," He dragged the word out, "If you need directions, the asylum is about 50 miles that way," He pointed away from Percy, "Now if you'll excuse me I have to-"

"No," Zoë stopped him, "You're coming with us. We need to take thee to thy father,"

"I don't know why on earth you're speaking like some sixth century monk, but I don't have a father, and I need to get home soon, before my parents discover I'm in the woods with a group of insane idiots,"

"Correction," Hazel said, "You need to get your ass up to Mount Logan, before we get mobbed by a group of glory hungry monsters,"

"Sure as Hell I do. What are you guys on? You're so high-"

"Enough!" Zoë butted in, "I don't care what you think, but the fates dictate what must happen, and so it shall be. That is the way the world has run, since the children of Chaos first created the world. Now, unless thy will is for me to knock thee out, and believe me, I have no problem whatsoever with that course of action, you shall follow us to the mountain," She turned to Hazel, "You know the woods even better than I, lead us,"

Hazel looked reluctant, most likely due to a bad night's sleep and hunger from not having eaten for a while, but seemed to concentrate then led the group forwards. Zoë marched up behind James and shoved him forwards, before drawing a knife from some hiding place, holding it between his shoulder blades and snarling, "Walk,"

James seemed reluctant, but Percy was pretty sure that the razor sharp dagger was a pretty good persuasive tool. He walked forwards, following Hazel. Percy could sympathise with him. He had found this world easy to accept, most likely because he had lived in it before he lost his memory and his mind was familiar with the concept, but James was being thrown into the deep end, mid quest, which must be extremely hard, especially with the rather intimidating figure of Zoë breathing down his neck.

Hazel led them through the endless sea of trees, never faltering. It all looked the same to Percy however, and it gave him a headache even trying to get his bearings. They were silent for hours, until finally James spoke to Zoë scornfully,

"What kind of a name is Nightshade, anyway? People haven't had names like that for millennia?"

Zoë, however, did not seem to sense the scorn in his voice, which was unusual, and looked wistful, "It was given to me by some of the less educated hunters, who thought that my mother was Nyx, as some of the myths tell,"

"Isn't who your mother is pretty obvious? There's a reason we have birth certificates nowadays, not just to look fancy,"

Zoë looked amused, "We didn't have 'birth certificates' in pre-hellenisian times,"

"No shit. But we did in the twentieth century,"

"I wasn't born in the twentieth century,"

"Just keep thinking that,"

"I was not. My mother was Pleone, my father was Atlas, and I was born before the dawn of civilisation,"

Lee had a smirk on his face as he walked beside Percy. He couldn't see Hazel's face, but Zoë was starting to be less and less amused as James continued to be what the ignorant people of today might call 'rational'.

"You're what, fourteen? Fifteen? Come on, you were born earliest nineteen ninety five,"

Zoë was getting annoyed again, she grabbed his shirt, "Listen here, you need to start thinking in terms of what you might call Greek Mythology, if thy wish is for survival. Some people are older than they look. Some people are meant to be dead. Some creatures don't exist in terms of Darwinian evolution, but they do. Deal with it,"

"Whatever," James looked sulky, as if he wasn't used to being manhandled or being yelled at.

Zoë pushed him forwards again, but dropped back to the rear of the group. Hazel continued to walk and so did the others. Hours later they stepped out beside a huge quarry, that fell at least fifty metres below ground level, and the bottom of which was flooded. Percy could see many snaking tunnels, whose entrances encircled the floor and walls of the quarry. There was a narrow path down to a ledge, and Zoë stepped forwards to the front of the group, before walking down to the ledge. Everyone quickly followed. The sun was setting in the distance, silhouetting the mountain that was their destination. They must have walked for almost twenty hours. Percy sat down, and Zoë put up the tents the hunters had left them. He crawled in, noticing that he no longer felt so tired, as the mists clung to his skin.

When he woke up an hour later, he could hear a strange hissing sound coming from outside. James and Lee were slumped on the floor nearby. He started towards the entrance of the tent when he heard a scream, which sounded like Hazel.

"Basiliscus!"

"What?" He ran outside to see a tiny but fanged serpent slithering down the tunnel towards them. Hazel was pointing a torch straight at it from the guard post.

James and Lee had come out of the tent. James spoke, "Like in Harry Potter? No way, its tiny,"

Zoë looked at him scornfully, "No. The real thing. Baliskos, the little king. Don't let it anywhere near you, its touch and breath are poisonous,"

"How can we kill it? Shoot it?"

"No. The weapon and bearer shall be destroyed." Zoë looked worried,

"Then what?"

"A weasel. Weasels are their bane. The stench of one will kill it,"

"Great. So we need a rodent we don't have, and can't kill it," Lee said, "What do we do?"

Zoë looked at him, "Who said we had to kill it, we just need to get away from it,"

"I'll try and stop it," Hazel concentrated on the ground beneath it, and vines began to grow, attempting to ensnare it. But the vines withered and died as they grew. The serpent seemed angered, and rushed at Hazel with a speed that defied its size. Suddenly Percy felt enraged, as the snake tried to kill his friend. The endless, roaring power of the seas sounded in his ears, and the water below them rose up. It created a wall between Hazel and the Basiliscus, then engulfed it. Percy didn't know how he was doing it, but he tried to concentrate of tossing down the serpent. The water obeyed, tossing it down into the quarry, and then holding it there beneath its crushing weight. Percy felt feint. Zoë grabbed him as he stumbled.

"Let us keep going. We are rested enough, and not far from the mountain, its power distorts thy vision,"

"Easy for some," Hazel muttered, but followed Zoë as she ran out of the quarry.

This time, Zoë led the way onwards. The mountain suddenly jumped closer, until it was only ten, twenty metres away. There was a clear ring around the mountain, before more trees encircled the upwards climb Percy and Hazel would inevitably have to make. Zoë turned to them,

"Welcome, to the Mountain of Time,"


	11. Chapter 11 Hazel

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO (Sorry, I only just noticed that was wrong)

Zoë continued forwards and they followed her, but at least now for his sake Percy was not the only confused member of the group. Well, James was probably as confused as him most of the time, but he usually ignored them or just covered it with sarcastic comments. They were all looking at Zoë as if she was insane.

"What do you mean the Mountain of Time? Kronos ruled from Mt. Othrys," asked Hazel,

"When did I ever speak the Titan Lord's name?"

"Well, you kind of said time, and Kronos was the titan of time so…"

"So what?"

"So shouldn't his mountain be Othrys,"

"I was not talking about Kronos,"

"Then who?"

"You shall find out in thy own time," Lee groaned at the pun,

"Come on, you can give us some clue,"

"No," she stopped walking, at the edge of the woods that climbed the steep hillside, "I must leave you now, Lee and I cannot venture to this place, it is forbidden. Only the chosen may enter,"

"What about Nico?"

"That responsibility lies with thee. I shall make sure Lee gets to camp safely, you should Iris message Lupa, she wants to hear of the quest,"

Hazel was curious now, because nobody else seemed to know about the camp, they were all talking about some other place that he hadn't been to,

Percy seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because he asked, "How do you know about Lupa? We haven't talked about her,"

"Percy, I am nearly five thousand years old. I watched as she tended to Romulus and Remus on the hunts field trip of two thousand BC. Of course I know who Lupa is,"

"Five thousand?"

"As you would say, 'give or take',"

"But that's impossible," said James

"Percy seemed to get his head around it at the age of fourteen, I'm sure you can manage it now," She stepped over to Hazel and whispered in her ear, "Good luck. Before you have watched Jason fighting the titans, now you must face something even more dangerous. You need to find Nico as quickly as possible, Percy will do his best as soon as you mention it to him, he would risk the world to save a friend. You have to get to know these two. When you return to camp, they will not be happy about this quest, and thy guidance is going to be imperative in getting Percy right into the centre of your camp and its politics."

"Why?"

"You shall find out soon enough. I have a gift for you," She pulled a silver bow from somewhere on her back, and handed it to her. "This was my bow for the last seven hundred years of my life, the bow of a huntress. It is unbreakable, fashioned from the bone of a Manticore, and coated in the purest silver in existence, that mined from the peak of mount Olympus, and blessed by my lady. Take it and use it well,"

Hazel stared at the bow in wonder, but before she could thank Zoë she was gone, talking to Percy. Then she touched his sword, spoke one more line and grabbed Lee, pulling him away from them, completely ignoring James. Percy spoke first,

"So… this Iris message thing, how exactly does it work?"

"We need mist, and light, then we throw in a golden denarii and ask for whoever we want,"

"Like a video call from anywhere?"

"Exactly,"

"Sweet,"

"We should find some water," She looked around, "There, where the trees grow thicker; there must be a stream,"

Percy nodded, "I can feel it… I think,"

"Don't mind me! I'll just stay here alone then. Why the hell are you dragging me along anyway?"

Hazel and Percy ignored him.

They rushed to the stream, leaving their bags behind on the floor. Percy extended a hand, concentrating, and a fine string of mist began to extend from just above the water, until a decent sized cloud hung in front of her. She threw in the coin, muttering the name Lupa. The message took almost a minute to connect, which was strange. Lupa appeared, growling at three demigods, Gwen, Bobby and Dakota. She was lecturing them about some mishap that had happened earlier in the day, but suddenly Hazel couldn't comprehend the words, like they were being spoken quickly and quietly.

"Lupa!"

Lupa turned her head, as if she had been expecting a call, she then looked back at the group before her, and looked as if she was about to kick them out, when Gwen shouted out,

"Hazel! Where have you been! George is in a foul mood and won't tell us and Lupa keeps spilling some crap about some new guys on a quest. What in Pluto's name happened? We only left you for a month and-"

"Ok! Gwen! Shut up!"

"Sorry,"

"I'm on a quest with Percy and Nico, some new kids who showed up. Before you ask, we're not entirely sure what we're supposed to be doing. We need to talk to Lupa about it,"

"Cool," Said Dakota, then sat down watching her,

"_Alone_,"

"C'mon Hazel, you can tell us,"

"Sure. 'Cos everyone knows how trustworthy the Mercury cabin is. I mean, what are the chances that you would ever blab, like a million to one?"

"Ye-"

"I was being sarcastic…"

Lupa stepped forwards, "I'm sure that Hazel will be able to tell you all about her quest down to every last minute little detail… when she gets back, now scram, dinners ready, unless you want to become dinner?"

The trio left dejectedly, and when the door was firmly Hazel began to recount what had happened so far. Lupa's eyes flashed in recognition when she mentioned Zoë Nightshade, but she didn't speak until Hazel was done.

"This sounds worse than I thought. If your enemies have Nico, then they are going to try and use him to their advantage, lure you into a trap. But you have to get him back, so try to strike when your opponents least expect it. And try and scout around, you still don't have many clues on what Mimas is doing. His purpose was and is to replace Lord Vulcan, and he is a fire giant much like Vulcan is the god of fire. This fight will be especially dangerous for you, Hazel. I'm sure you have noticed, but plants don't tend to be fire's best friend. Use Percy to your advantage. Just make sure _it_ doesn't get the better of you after you return. Remember what I'm sure Zoë talked to you about. And remember the line, that-"

The message dissipated, their allotted time was over, Percy looked like he was thinking about something, with his eyebrows scrunched together, "That what? The prophecy is like ten lines long,"

"I don't know, but I have more money in my bag, lets go and get some more and call Lupa again,"

"What was _it_?"

"My fatal flaw,"

"Which is?"

"The most important piece of information any demigod has, and should never, under any circumstances be told to anybody else other than Lupa,"

"Nice. Thanks for sharing,"

They ran back the way they'd come, rounding a corner to place they had left their nice, clean, in one piece bags full of helpful-so-you-don't-get-killed supplies, to find them being ripped to shreds by a small pack of hellhounds. James was nowhere to be seen Percy ran forwards and tried to grab one of the hellhounds, but to no avail. They turned on him, and though they could not wound him, they bared his way and began pushing him back.

"Fight them!"

"I- I can't!"

"Why?" 

"I don't know, it feels wrong,"

"Oh my gods Percy! If you don't kill them they're going to eventually kill you!"

"I can't do it!"

"Fine, then I will!" She threw him her huge shield, after unclasping it from her back, and he caught it, using it as a barricade. She almost drew her sword, but then thought of a better idea. She drew out the huge bow from her back and an quiver appeared on her shoulder. She chose an arrow and fiddled around until she worked out how to notch it. Finally she drew back, pointing the arrow at one of the huge dogs and fired. The arrow fell to the ground. _Great_… this was going brilliantly so far. She tried again, this time faster, and her arrow actually managed to hit one of them on the shoulder, before bouncing off. The huge beast turned on her, unharmed but infuriated, and, mouth agape, charged. She screamed, and grabbed an arrow, throwing it at the monster; it missed.

Quickly she grasped the sword at her hip, and held it in front of her, trying to quickly steady herself she thrust forwards as if came upon her, and to her disgust her arm went all the way up to the shoulder before the beast finally stopped, and disintegrated. She looked down at her arm. It was covered in saliva, and there was a long cut up from the back of her hand to her elbow. Her hand still grasped the hilt of her sword, but the blade lay in bent up chunks around her. There was a huge tooth on the ground by her left foot, midnight black and razor sharp, and she picked it up. _Great, Lupa and Bobby are gonna kill me_ she thought. Percy was looking at her, he saw her cut and suddenly he looked enraged. His fist slammed into the flank of one hellhound, and it collapsed wheezing. He dealt with the others in a similar fashion, but couldn't seem to bring himself to kill them. Hazel concentrated hard on the ground, and green tendrils extended upwards, rapping themselves around the paws and jaws of the beasts, imprisoning them, for now.

"Why don't you just kill them?" she asked, half annoyed, half curious

"I can't do it, it just feels wrong," She decided she would be better off trying to probe Nico for answers later than his clueless friend.

Percy seemed to notice something for the first time, "Wait a second where's James?"

"Don't know, he was gone when we got here,"

"Do you think they took him?"

"Probably. We should see if theres anything left in the bags undamaged, like nectar or ambrosia,"

They began to rummage through the torn to shreds remains of their bags, looking for a bottle or bag.

"There's a broken bottle here but half a bag of ambrosia,"

"I can't find anything else in tact, you?"

"Nope, guess this will have to do,"

Hazel looked up at the mountain that towered above them, it was huge, like, Mt. Othrys huge.

"Great, we have two lost teenagers, half a bag of ambrosia, I have a bow I'm crap with, a tooth and some arrows, and you refuse to kill hellhounds. This mountain is huge, where do we start?"

"The bottom,"

"Haha,"

**Sorry for the long update time, I took a break over the holidays an then I had some pointless R.E essay to do when I got back to school, so I haven't had much time for writing. I had some good advice at the start of the story for how to improve, but I'm worried about the canon characters being ooc and my ocs being Mary-Sues, are they? What do I need to improve now that the story has progressed more?**


	12. Chapter 12 Hazel

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO**

Hazel led the way up the mountainside, Percy followed in her footsteps. She supposed the mountain should be hard to climb, most of the area she could see looked it, but the roots of the trees seemed to bend as she and Percy walked, creating steps to climb. They had been following the trail of a hellhound for hours now, the leaves moved apart where they had stepped, creating footprint shapes for them to follow. The sun was setting slowly in the distance, casting the mountain in shadow. Percy had started moaning about stopping for an hour, and she new that they probably needed to. When she ran out of trees, she was going to collapse. She thought it through, the risk of wasting time with rest, against how much they needed it. Finally she gave in, and told Percy they would stop at the next clearing.

When they found a clearing, it was almost pitch black, and Percy was having trouble looking out for where he was going. She threw down her bag, or small wrapped up bit of cloth (which unfortunately, did not have the same effect), and turned to him.

"Make a fire, and then we need to talk,"

"Why can't you make a fire?" he whined. She felt kind of sorry for him. He looked knackered, he had thrown down his bags as soon as they had arrived and collapsed upon them. But on the other hand, fire and her… didn't really work well, per say.

"I'm… let's just say me and fire shouldn't mix whenever it can be avoided,"

"But I have no idea how to make a fire,"

"I know the theory, I can tell you,"

"What do I need?"

"Wood," She extended a hand, and focused on the dead plants around her, visualising them moving into her hand. There was a creak, and then she felt pieces of dead wood begin piling itself in her hand. She stopped when she thought there was enough and passed it to Percy. "There. Now get some rocks, and hit them against each other near the smaller sticks.

He groaned, then got up and started sifting through a pile of stones at the edge of the clearing, until he had two that were an easy size to use. Meanwhile, Hazel had prepared a tunnel-esque structure for him to light, and got the sticks to pile themselves in stacks by size. Percy sat down by the fire and began hitting the stones together. She turned away, she hated the way a spark started consuming the wood. It would be bearable… later, when the fire was already going. She heard Percy groan, but ignored him and set up the tents; throwing down the little squares and watching them grow. Then she went into her tent and lay down. Now that she was away from the trees, she could feel the ache in her legs.

Ten minutes later, she heard a triumphant cheer, signifying that the fire was lit, and staying lit. She stepped out, taking off her jumper and laying it on the ground to sit on, well away from the fire. Percy grinned at her, pleased with himself. She stared back solemnly.

"Lupa wants you integrated into camp when we get back. And she wants me to teach you,"

"Ok," she groaned. This would be a long night.

"Let's start at the beginning. Camp is a legion. The last roman legion, but we started as the first, over two thousand years ago. Since then, we swapped between legions, moving to where we were most needed. Rome, Italy, France, Germany, we spent some time under Agricola in Britain. Then Rome dissipated, and so did the gods. Then we had to follow Lupa, who would lead us around the world, to find the gods' seats of power wherever they appeared. First in Egypt, then India, then we knocked around Europe for a bit, we stayed at Hadrian's Wall for a few hundred years, and in about sixteen hundred we moved here. In the Legion there are ten cohorts, the first being the very best, then second, third, fourth, depreciating as you go down the list, basically, we're an autocracy, if you're good, you're at the top of the food chain, if not you stay out of the way," he stared at her blankly, and she wasn't completely sure he was listening, or even if he knew what an autocracy was, but ignored it, "As a general rule you start in ten. You get taught to use a sword. If you are deemed to be good enough, then you move up. At fifth cohort, you get your tattoo," she showed him hers, "The eagle is the symbol of Rome, it's the same as the one a soldier in ancient Rome would have. SPQR is the motto of Ancient Rome, the Senate and People of Rome, and the lines indicate how long you've been there. At third cohort, you get claimed by you're parent, and then you can go on quests, you have siblings, you get a barracks and so on. The problem is, if you suck with a sword, you don't get anywhere. There are about a two hundred people at camp. First legion is about fifteen people. Second twenty, third thirty. The elite is about a quarter of the camp, so most people spend their lives in the lower legion barracks, and they don't even find out who they are,"

"That sucks,"

"Indeed. Especially for us,"

"Why?"

"Lupa wants you and Nico in first legion. From the start. I know about a hundred and eighty five people who won't be happy with that, and about thirteen in the first legion will most likely back them,"

"The other two?"

"Me, and Jason,"

"Why Jason?"

Mentally, she slapped him, "He's missing, idiot,"

"Oh yeah,"

"So basically, Lupa wanted you out of camp a-s-a-p, before she told everyone you'd be moving up. It means it involves way less fighting, way less arguments and way less mess,"

"Mess?"

"The Legion is like on big, generally pissed off family. We fight, we argue and we mortally wound each other. And when the arguments get bigger, so does the fighting, shouting and wounding,"

"Nice,"

"You learn to love it,"

"And people care so much why?"

_Groan_, "Think about it. You spend your whole life trying to achieve the glory of first Legion. Then two newbies show up, and in ten minutes they're at the top. How would you feel?"

"Uh…"

"Pissed off, that's how. Even Jason had to start in seventh, and he's generally acknowledged as the best hero of all time,"

"So first legion is like, the very best you can possibly be?"

"They get hero-worshipped. We are seen as second only to the gods,"

"I could live with that,"

"You won't get that, Percy. People are going to _hate_ you,"

"Yay. Who else is in first legion anyway?"

"Jason is the camp's leader, Legatus. Then Bobby, son of Vulcan is our Aquilifer. All the other cohorts have centurions, optios and the like, but we go without. There aren't enough of us, so we fill the roles of the Tribuni as well. The rest of the legion is Reyna, who you met, Dakota, son of Mercury, Gwendolyn, daughter of Venus, George, your best friend is son of Morpheus, David, son of Janus, Grace, daughter of Pompona-"

"Ok I get the picture, stop! That must take forever to read out at like, registration,"

"Registration?"

"Like, at the start of class, where the teacher calls out your names,"

"Ah, school. We don't go to school. We have to be ready, so we can't take breaks to the mortal world,"

"Lucky,"

"I thought you couldn't remember,"

"I can't. But from what I know, school _sounds_ like it sucks,"

"Whatever. I'm going to bed,"

She rose from her position, and he looked at her mournfully,

"What about food?"

"I'm too tired, you want some? Go find it in the darkness, see you tomorrow," She threw herself into the tent, and lay on the bare floor, laying her head in her arms. She heard a groan, and then Percy mutter something about him taking watch, and lazy girls, before her mind began to wonder. Soon, she felt herself slip into the arms of Morpheus.

**Sorry for the long wait, I've been really busy since the last update. I didn't get any answers to my question last time, so I guess I'll ask again: Is there anything wrong with the characters so far? e.g. ooc, Mary-Sue, etc. If possible please answer, even if it's just to say no, I'm getting kinda worried about it :S Please tell me what you think, cheers :) On another topic, why did the PJO and HoO fandoms merge? I got really confused :P**


	13. Chapter 13 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

**Warning: Some swearing within this chapter, see A/N for reasoning.**

Nico lay in the darkness, listening to the sound of water dropping from the hole in the roof. He had lost track of time hours ago, and the boarded up windows provided no hope of finding out. He had woken in the room a few… well, earlier anyway. There had been no sign of life other than him, no sign of his enemies except some kind of barrier he couldn't shadow travel through, and the room was completely barren. Only the dripping remained. He lay back. Percy would get here soon, he always did. He saved everyone. Except… well… Nico tried not to think about it. He would be here soon. And then the fools who held him here would pay for this… inconvenience.

_drip… drip… drip…_

He jolted awake, to find himself still lying in the darkened room. He could see everything clearly, but it was nevertheless depressing. He grasped at a crack in the wall nearby, and pulled himself into a sitting position, propping his head up on his hands. He mulled things over in his mind. It must have been hours, days, since he had been left here. Nothing had intruded on his solitude. They must know that _technically_ Nico wouldn't need food when immersed in darkness like this, and seemed to be exploiting this fact. He had expected them to come talk to him, try and persuade him, the usual 'Hey, it's a big three kid! Come join us or watch your friends die painfully,' kind of thing, but he had seen neither hide nor hair of anything. Which was annoying. Nico stared, more bored than indignant now. Here comes the wait.

_drip… drip… drip…_

Four thousand, three hundred and twenty-three drips later there was a crash outside. Then the door was flung open, and a field of absolute darkness, which even Nico's eyes could not penetrate, flung a body into the room. The boy looked up, and Nico flinched. His aura was strong, like Percy-Thalia-him strong. Which was bad. So was his complexion, deathly pale. Bad sign. Dark eyes? worse. Only Nico had black eyes. No no no no no! His dad had promised, no more! Nico glared at the boy, who still lay sprawled on the ground before him. Nico, with the emotional sensitivity of a dead log, kicked him in the leg, hard, and then dodged sideways. There was an angry grunt, and the boy turned towards where his foot had come from. Ok, that was better. Even as a little kid, Nico had been able to see well in the dark. Come on, please! Nico couldn't deal with a brother right now. He was about to kick him again, to try and make sure, when the boy spoke,

"What the hell is going on?"

Nico paused. He had an English accent, and Hades had hated the English. This was getting better. "I could ask you the same question,"

"Look, obviously you're involved in all this crap, so just tell me what those idiots who got me are up to, so I can get the hell out of it,"

"Hades. The Hades out of it,"

"For crying out loud, you're one of those crackpots too," he began to imitate a girly voice, it sounded like Zoë, and "G_ods are real! Shut up and keep walking! I'm too far up my own ass!_"

"Umm… ok. Who the Hades are you?"

"Yeah, like I'm going to tell a random stranger my details, so they can go Facebook stalk me,"

"Facebook?"

The boy looked at him, or rather the wall next to him, but it was close enough, "Wow. Clever. Either tell me what's going on, or piss off,"

"I'm not telling you anything, until you tell me who you are,"

"I'll tell you my first name, nothing else,"

"Which is?"

"James,"

"Nico," He extended his hand, then realised his companion was nigh on blind at the moment and withdrew it.

"Ok," It sounded as if James was trying to hold back a sharp remark, "Now your turn. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure I'm the best person to explain this to you, so be prepared for bias. You know Greece?"

"'Course,"

"You know, like, Ancient Greece,"

"Theoretically,"

"Meaning?"

"I know _of_ it,"

"How much?"

"Well, I know that if there is a Greece now, there was probably one in, like, pre-Roman times, which would count as ancient nowadays, right?"

Nico sighed, "Didn't you learn about it at school?"

"I don't go to school,"

"Why?"

"Home schooled, my foster parents don't trust the American governments education scheme,"

Nico smirked, _sure_, "Well the basic of Greek mythology is that there are gods-"

"I'm atheist,"

"Tough,"

"What do you mean _are_?"

"That there are still gods today,"

"Ye-"

"Can you let me finish first?"

James gave an exaggerated sigh, before lying back on the floor behind him.

"So there are gods, and they kind of move around the world every few hundred years, wherever the 'heart of the west' resides, which is America at the moment. And according to Greek 'myth' the gods had children with mortals, some, like Apollo and Zeus, when he can get away with it, more than others who are more choosy, or have higher standards, like Hades or Poseidon," the faintest boom could be heard in the distance, to the south. _'If you care so much, come out and say it'_ Nico thought. It wasn't that he hated Zeus as much as… well, he did kind of hate Zeus, almost as much as Hephaestus, but it was more that he was sick out of his mind of his stupid pride losing lives. "And those children are called Demigods, and they are people like me, and I guess you. Basically, the gods, mainly Zeus, use demigods as tools to attain whatever they want, but few of their children are actually cared for. Most gods are selfish, they don't really care about family, all they care about is petty disputes with each other. And until last summer, most of their kids were ignored until they met a very painful death. We act like trouble magnets, monsters try and kill us to prove themselves, gods try and kill us to spite others, and humans who find out try and kill us if they find out about us out of fear. We usually don't live past twenty,"

"Sounds like fun. Yay, lets go and get ourselves killed like idiots,"

Nico was on him in a flash, holding him down, "Shut up! You don't know anything!" he gathered his wits, and retreated to a corner, head ducked, glaring at the wall. He was over it. He _was_. "I don't care who you are, just stop before you get yourself killed, by me,"

"What?" James had sat up, and was looking over at Nico, half bemused, but also looking kind of sorry.

"Don't talk like that,"

"Why?"

"I'm not in the state of mind to explain without strangling you, so shut up until we get out of here,"

"Look, to be honest I don't really care. You're off your rocker, and so are those girls and that Percy kid,"

"Percy?"

"Yeah, average height, weird eyes-"

"No, I mean when did you meet him?"

"Him and this massive group of girls were surrounding me when I woke up yesterday,"

"The hunters," Nico whispered to himself, trying not to react. Thalia was nice but the rest were… never mind, he tried to forget it. "Look, I know the deal, this is weird for you, and once I thought about it, it was weird at first for me as well, but you have to listen to me, or you're a going to get yourself killed. You're dyslexic and ADHD, right? Because you need to be ready for battle, and your brain is designed to read Ancient Greek, not English. Sometimes people look at you funny, and act weird around you, or you see strange things. You're an outcast; you find it really hard to make friends. You feel like you're never being told the truth, that's all because you're a demigod,"

"I'm not dyslexic, and I have really mild schizophrenia, which gives me mood swings. I read English fine, and I can make friends…"

"Whatever. If my enemies care about you, then there's like a ninety-nine in one hundred chance you're a demigod or variation thereof,"

"I don't fit the bill; this is probably a huge mistake,"

"I don't think so. When you're a demigod, and the stakes get this high, there aren't many mistakes,"

James was looking in a Nico-ish direction, and looked like he was about to speak, when the door burst open and light flooded the room, searing the boys' eyes. A gruff voice that Nico recognised spoke, "Get up. The Master wants to see you,"

**I'm doing the dialogue in a sort of Red Shift (Alan Garner) style, mainly because I think it disrupts the flow of the story if you put descriptions on every bit of speech. I'm not really sure about the schizophrenia thing, I just needed something for mood swings and it was the first thing that came to mind. Sorry, if you find it offensive at all. It'll be important later on. Sorry for the swearing earlier on, but I was thinking about it, and decided the typical teen of today swears a lot, and I thought this is probably how they would react in such a situation, where they are getting desperate, and have no idea what is going on. Rated T for a reason :P**


	14. Chapter 14 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

Nico and James obediently followed the cloaked figure. Secretly, Nico had been hoping that he could shadow travel away as soon as he had left the room, but unfortunately the power only got stronger as he continued down the corridors. Now there was light, or rather an absence of darkness, he began to fell aches and pains all over his body, and he felt really tired. _Great, now not only am I helpless, I'm weak too… _The maze of corridors he was being led through made no sense, and he quickly lost his way. James fell over a few times, and Nico had to stop and help him up while the hooded man continued walking, so that James didn't get left behind. Eventually, as Nico felt as though his legs were about to buckle, the figure stopped and pushed open two huge doors, revealing a huge chasm, brightly lit by fires that surrounded the edges. He then grabbed the boys and flung them into the room, where they lay in a sprawled heap. A voice spoke, deep and resonating,

"Welcome," but it sounded far from welcoming. It came from the centre of the room, where a cloud of endlessly moving smoke was circulating, with two white eyes staring at them. "Son of Hades, how kind of you to join me," Nico spat on the ground, and the eyes flashed menacingly, "I am not as foolish as you seem to believe, demigod. You will not provoke me so easily. You seem to categorise every enemy you face in the same way: stupid, quick to anger, and easily fooled,"

"I've heard the speech before and the answer is no,"

There was a sound, like some sick kind of laughter, which came from within the smoke, "You are mistaken. I only bring you before me to pass the time. You are worthless to me. My siblings, the Titans, may have tried to convert you to their cause, but believe me, however special and superior that may have made you feel, my brethren and I care nothing for your kind. You are pests,"

James looked up at the swirling mass from beside Nico, and he looked like he was soiling himself and looking for some kind of screen between him and the… it, so as to disprove what his eyes confirmed. "What the hell are you?"

"That, my friend, is fact best known to myself. No need to be afraid, while Nico is of no use to me, you are of great importance,"

"Don't listen to him," Nico warned, though he felt it was fairly unnecessary: so far James had disbelieved almost everything he had said, "He's trying to trick you. He'll use you like a puppet, and then throw you to the hellhounds as soon as you have fulfilled your purpose,"

"Ignore the brat. He knows nothing, all he cares about it blaming everyone but himself for his sister's death," _don't react, don't react_… "Because he knows it's true, if he hadn't been such a pathetic, bratty, selfish little-"

"Shut up!" Nico felt the anger again, deep inside him. The pure essence of hatred, like the very spirit of the Styx was fighting to get out of him. He recognised it dimly, like the time with the wolves and the moon, only worse. He could feel the waves of hatred, and he knew what they could probably do at this strength, but all he heard was a feint snicker from the voice,

"Impressive. But no-where near enough. You merely waste your energy, and while you may be both an interesting distraction and a fine specimen of how powerful a demigod can be, I am far more interested in your friend," Nico felt hot, his strength evaporated and he fell back onto the floor. "Now then, James, I suppose I should introduce myself, I am Mimas, ancient foe to Hephaestus, who Nico loves so much, son of Gaia and Tartarus. You need to choose a side, and I now offer to you the correct one. Just shy of five millennia ago, my siblings, for want of a better phrase, fought in a war with what the average Joe of today might name as the Greek gods, and-"

"Oh for God's sake, can you please end this stupid practical joke, it's past twelve o'clock*, and it stopped being amusing yesterday!" Nico started making cutting motions across his throat, as funny as the situation was, James was about to get himself killed. Immortals could get touchy.

"How dare you! You dare to call my family a joke! Lycaon, show him exactly what happens when a practical joke goes terribly wrong!" the cloaked figure threw back his hood, revealing the man who had ambushed Nico earlier on. His nails grew longer, more claw like, and his eyes changed shape and colour. He growled, and for a moment Nico was terrified, but then he saw James, who was pale as death, staring at the wolf-man-thing before him. Nico moved slowly so as not to gather attention, as he pulled his sword out of the thankfully bare earth around him. He thought a silent permission, then yelled "Catch!" and flung the sword at James, who fumbled with it before managing to catch it by the handle. Lycaon pounced.

James jumped back, almost tripping on Nico, and flinging up a haphazard karate-esque kick, which missed completely. Then he stood his ground holding the sword pointed at Lycaon, but unfortunately he looked more like the sort of ten-year-old who likes to play with wooden swords than a particularly well trained fighter. He stepped forwards and swung at the monstrosity that was to be his first foe, which seemed slightly unfair to Nico, but it was parried easily. Lycaon rolled between his legs, before springing up and slashing at his left arm. James gasped, and fell to the ground, and Nico mentally groaned. This was harsh; at least whichever god called itself his parent could have let him be at least half decent at fighting? No, wait, that would be too easy, and much too boring. Nico felt sorry for the kid, or rather, older boy. This was probably the first time he'd been properly hurt, and he had been unready. And now he was about to suffer for it. Lycaon raised a hand, and swiped at his neck. As one long, razor sharp claw was about to slice through James' spine however, it seemed to change direction, flying away from the boy completely. He let out a low growl, and tried to scissor his head with two of his claws, but his arms were flung away. Lycaon seemed enraged. He sprang at him, but was flung at the wall by an unseen force, where he became an unmoving mass of wonky limbs and fur.

The eyes looked furious, and Nico was thinking something along the lines of face-palm, when there was a yell from outside. A crack was forming, in the side of the chasm. Pure white sunlight broke in, and Nico could see a face he knew all too well smirking down at him.

***You get April Fools Day in countries that aren't the UK, right?**

**Thought I might just ask again, just in case I get a response, if there are any problems with the story in relation to characters? I'm yet to get a review about it, but you know what they say, if at first you don't succeed…**


	15. Chapter 15 Percy

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

The fact that Hazel had been right, and Nico was where she had guessed, only maintained Percy's attention for a few seconds, before he took a real look around the cavern they had unearthed. It was huge, like bigger-than-a-house huge, and unfortunately Percy and Hazel found themselves twenty metres from the floor, where Nico stood. Better still, in the centre of said cavern was a writhing mass of smoke, the heat emanating from it was unbearable, even from this distance, and two huge, pure white eyes floated at the front, piercing Percy with a sinister glare. Then a hot gust of wind came from behind them, and they were pushed over the edge. Percy landed first, only feeling the impact on his braced arms and knees, before Hazel fell on top of him, onto his back. Immediately he felt weak, and collapsed onto the ground, Hazel rolled to the side, and then stared fixedly at the… thing.

"Percy Jackson," it said, sounding as though it was on the border between bored and irritated, "how nice of you to join us," it fixed a glare on James, who Percy had only just noticed. He stood at least five metres away from the others, collapsed on the floor. Nico seemed to be staring at him as well, but with more of a '_how the hell did you do that?_' stare than an angry one.

"Who-who are you?" he asked, tentative. This did not look like the sort of party he particularly wanted to burst in on, but at the same time Nico was here, and he needed help.

"Mimas," Nico spoke for him, and gave Percy a meaningful look.

"What?"

Nico looked frustrated, before whispering "_Zoë_," as quietly as possible.

The being, however, seemed to hear this, as its expression turned sour. Then Percy realised what he was talking about, Zoë had told them about this guy, a giant. He was supposed to be the enemy of Hephaestus, a god. Unfortunately, this realisation did little to aid Percy. How could he fight something with the strength to destroy one of the most powerful beings in existence? He wished that one of the others had stayed, preferably Zoë. All she had done before she had left was wish him some 'dam good luck', whatever that had meant.

"Demigod, your time, and that of your gods, grows short. As we speak Gaia gets stronger, and soon she will awaken, and once she does the gods will be helpless to stop us. What is more, even as we speak their last hope of salvation wanes and sacrifices its power to her. Your only hope is to face me now, in combat. What do you say, hero?"

Ok… so this was not looking good, either he fought this super-powerful-god-killing-thing now with only Nico, Hazel and James as backup, or else he fled, saving his own hide for now, but the gods would fall, which sounded generally bad in all respects.

Hazel looked to Percy, "Percy, we need to fight him," she looked petrified, and weak. The heat seemed to be affecting her. "A hero can challenge anybody, as long as they are brave enough, and we need to stop him before Gaia can rise,"

Percy looked at Mimas, genuinely confused, and then asked Hazel, "Isn't Gaia, like, a good goddess?"

"I don't know! She helped Rhea hide Zeus, but she sent her children to castrate her husband, and then the giants to defeat the gods. But if she's on his team, then I'd hazard a guess at evil,"

"And you're sure we need to fight him, alone?"

"At least to slow him down,"

"But don't we need a god to help fight a giant?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, we don't have any gods spare!"

Mimas watched them, and Percy was unable to discern any emotion from the two floating eyes.

"Fine!" he half turned to Mimas, then looked back at Hazel, "what do I say?"

"You state your challenge, your titles and feats and name the terms,"

"Any help?"

"Challenge him to a fight to the death,"

"Ok…" Percy turned to the cloud, "I, Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon, challenge you to a duel to the death,"

A deep booming laugh resounded around the chamber, "Pathetic. I hear that your counterparts were much more impressive when the challenged my brother. What deeds do you hold to your name, demigod? It insults your friend, the Daughter of Ceres, that you would not at least put forth a true challenge. You do not follow her beliefs I fear. You sway too far from the uniform in which she, and all others she knows, wear so comfortably. Maybe your young friend can help you?" The eyes darted to Nico, who was supporting James, dragging him to the edge of the dome.

Nico looked at Percy quickly, before glaring straight into the two white eyes of Mimas, "What's the point? If you boast and loose, then you just get shown up as a cocky git,"

Mimas laughed, "Very well. I accept your challenge,"

The smoke vanished, as did the eyes, and the ground began to vibrate. A hand burst out of the ground, black as a nightmare, and began to pull a body out. The giant rose, ten feet, twenty, thirty, until he stood sixty feet above them, pure white burning eyes stood out against his pitch black skin. His head was bald, and he looked like a serious body builder, huge muscles stood out from his arms and chest. He was dressed in a loin cloth and in his hand was an enormous mace, spiked and deadly. His legs, like two huge pillars, seemed to be made of granite, and glittered in the light of the torches that hung on the walls. He stared down at the trio who were still standing, and Percy felt his skin begin to warm up. There was a crack, and the giant's bald scalp burst into flame.

"Time to die, demigods!"


	16. Chapter 16 Percy

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

As far as Percy was concerned, being attacked by a sixty-foot-tall monster wielding a mace bigger than he was did not rank highly on his 'to-do' list. The problem was that while the mace just bounced off of his skin, Hazel, Nico, or James for that matter, were not going to be so lucky. He drew his sword, uncapping it and holding it above himself to block the incoming mace. It was like the old question about unstoppable forces and immovable objects, but now Percy knew the answer. A whole lot of shaking, and one ricochets off the other, luckily this time it was the mace and not Percy's sword. He looked up at his foe, hoping to see some kind of surprise at the fact that that this impudent little ant was actually slightly harder to squash. No such luck, it only seemed that Percy had confirmed something to the giant.

The thing was, there was no point in Percy trying a full frontal assault, he could tell that just by looking at Mimas, some of the know-how that sometimes leaked through into his mind that only came from experience. What could he do anyway, bite his ankles? No. To beat this foe, Percy needed more than strength; he was going to need power, like with the little snake thing earlier on. He tried to feel around for some water, but it felt as if that sixth-sense-esque power he had for detecting water was being cut off, and unless he knew where it was, willing it to move wasn't going to do him much good. He looked at Hazel. There was a forest outside, and she had said something about controlling plants earlier that day. Maybe she could help?

"Hazel!"

She rolled, dodging a tongue of flame that singed her hair. Her eyes were wide, terrified of what they were facing, but as Nico distracted Mimas by hacking at his left heel, she turned to him, "What?"

"Can you do that plant thing you were talking about? Try and trap him?"

"I've already tried. This place reeks of death, and this isn't the kind of death I can use for fertiliser, this is death as a power,"

Right… Percy acted like he understood. There were carvings of animals on the walls. Bears, eagles, horses. They reminded him of a film, which was really useful when you're fighting a giant ten times your size. Maybe something else.

What about Zoë's clue? Dam luck? What was that supposed to mean? Then he remembered something, from that quest with Zoë. They had all had a laugh about something along the lines of a dam snack bar. They had been ambushed by the skeletons there, and Percy had met with Athena. 'There is always hope for those clever enough to find it'.

Percy looked around. The cavern was covered in carvings, eagles, bears, horses, thousands of different brown, black and white depictions of animals. And the ground was covered in lumps, all around the room, like this was some giant ceremonial chamber. He racked him brain, trying to pry loose a memory, but all he got was some stupid children's movie about bears again. Or maybe not so stupid. The film had been all about humans back in the olden days, maybe as far back as when they had to fly on pterodactyls to go to other countries, and how they believed that they became animals when they died, like eagles. Or bears… or horses.

"Nico, pray!"

"Why?" Nico dodged out of the way of an incoming blow, narrowly avoiding becoming a part of the crater left by the mace.

"This is a tomb, you're father can help!"

"He won't listen; Persephone always blocks my prayers,"

"Well try anyway!"

"But-"

"We don't have time, Nico!"

Percy jumped forwards, eager to distract the behemoth. Mimas smiled cruelly, before swinging a blow at him. The mace crashed against Percy's forearm, shredding his clothes and ground beneath his feet. Nico was huddled at the side of the room, and Hazel was messing around with her bow. Mimas swung again, and Percy felt himself being pushed backwards, two long shallow ditches being forged out by his feet.

Percy tried to control the things around him. The air, ink, wind, fire, nothing worked, none of it responded to him. Then began to concentrate on the ground, willing it to shake, trying to topple his enemy, and slowly he felt the pressure beneath him build. The room began to shake, and Mimas wobbled on his feet, his mace flailing. Then the giant fell, and the shockwaves rocked the room, cracks forming in the domed roof. Percy tried to let go, but he couldn't. There was a pain in his stomach, and he felt it grow worse and worse, building up until it reached unbearable levels. His body felt dry, and he couldn't move his arms or legs. The room was shaking harder, the cracks widening, and he could hear an insane kind of laughter in his head, deafening him. He tried to let go, but it was like some invisible force was gripping him tighter, as if it had been waiting to ambush him as soon as he tried something like this. He felt more dehydrated than he could remember ever feeling before, and he was trapped. Nico looked at him, as if he too could feel what was happening, but Nico looked hopeful whereas Percy felt as if he was going to be stuck here forever, in the grips of some unseen foe and forcing the world around him to shake and shatter.

Then Percy felt cold, as if he was now, finally, losing consciousness. His vision began to go dark, but Percy could see through the red mist that had formed in his eyesight that the shadows around him were growing, rather than his eyes loosing focus.

He could feel the grip upon him weaken as the shadows pooled, and Mimas' face twisted into a gruesome mask of horror and even fear. The air grew cold around him, the sweat on his face became icy, and he could feel something underneath him, something that he could recognise but not acknowledge, as if he knew what it was but couldn't remember enough to identify it. Nico's features were mixed, he looked relieved but slightly scared, which didn't help. If Nico's prayers had worked, then, theoretically, they were saved, but if not… well, Percy didn't really want to think about that.

At the edge of the cavern, where the shadows were darkest, they began to grow, gaining shape, shade and form. Tiny, spider-like, clumps knitted themselves together, forming legs, arms, torso and finally a head, until finally a man stood twenty feet tall, wielding a massive sword, like an enormous, more ornate version of Nico's. Percy felt the grip on his body dissolve, and his legs crumpled, eyes rolling back into his skull.


	17. Chapter 17 Hazel

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

Hazel could feel her heart banging on her ribcage as the behemoth began to rise. She closed her eyes as the flames on his scalp started again, backing away towards the wall. She felt it go cold on either side of her, but in front she could still feel the painful heat her foe was giving off. Slowly, she prised her lids apart. The cracks that Percy had created in the ground were now filled with rivers of fire, but near the centre the flames were red, whereas from the edge of the room outwards the flames were bright green. Where the colours met they seemed to be fighting, jostling for control over one another.

She looked around her, the whole cavern was filled with shadows, and she could see a new figure rising at the edge, pitch black shadows weaving together. From the legs up, a new entity formed, but its form was flickering. First, a regal being Hazel recognised from a quest two years ago, the god Pluto, bearing his staff and wearing a black suit, then a sleazy looking character, with greasy hair, black robes with figures moving about on them and a huge sword that was longer than she was tall. He grew to the height of the giant; both his staff and sword grew with him. Another form grew beside him, a four legged creature. Three heads grew out from its shoulders, forming the mother, or rather father, of all hellhounds, Cerberus. Nico stood near one of his feet, not even up to his ankle, but looked more reassured and proud as he stared up at Mimas.

The giant glared at his new opponent, before turning his head to the side and spitting a ball of molten lava at the ground, "Hades,"

"Mimas," Each of them seemed to be sizing the other up, black eyes staring into pure white, "What, exactly do you think you are doing to my son and…" he glanced at Percy's unconscious form, as if deciding what to call him, "nephew?" His voice sounded all wrong, changing every few syllables as his form did. Mimas noticed it as well and smirked,

"Having trouble with your form I see,"

"A small matter,"

"I wish I had been there to see this a few hundred years ago, the mighty Olympians, unable to hold themselves together before their own children," Pluto clenched his teeth, and the giant seemed pleased with the reaction, "Then again, you probably wouldn't know, would you? None of your family really cares about you, do they? It puzzles me why you still fight with them. But then again, maybe that's your style. Always the loner, always the," He shot a side wards glance at the huge animal at Pluto's heels, "underdog," Hazel could feel Pluto's anger escalate, and the shadows began to spread across the room, engulfing the red flames, which was all good in Hazel's book, and replacing them with green ones, which wasn't. A flicker of some foreign emotion seemed to show on the giants face for a moment: fear, before it vanished and was replaced by a deep chuckle.

"You wish to challenge me then, giant? Then I can show you who the true underdog is,"

"Very well,"

The red flames began to push back, and fiery humanoids spewed forth, demonic figures wreathed in flames. Pluto raised a hand, and skeletal hands began to pull skeletal bodies out of the ground, each one different from the next: some with guns, others bearing swords and shields, but all of them were armed to the teeth and charged to face Mimas' fiery minions. The two immortals clashed, and Pluto's form began to steady, switching every few strikes between the two as he moved further away from the two demigods.

Nico sprang to help the skeletal warriors; his own began to crawl their way up from beneath the tombs. The fire-things that Hazel was trying so desperately not to look at seemed ethereal rather than having a tangible form, but the two sides were still able to clash, ripping each other to shreds in the ensuing madness of rotting flesh and flame. She could see Nico near the centre, fiercely slashing through the demons, their essences seeming to soak into his sword until it too was burnt with a bright green flame. She tried to help him, but she found herself paralysed, her body unwilling to respond to the pleas of her mind. The flames were burning brighter, huge mounds of skeletal figures were beginning pile up, shattered bones and dislocated limbs stacked up high, trying to pull themselves back together but only succeeding in tangling themselves further.

She pulled the hellhound's tooth from her belt, and began trying to move towards the fight. She could see the dancing flames, and her body longed to run, run and never turn back, but her mind was set on helping the others. She felt her mind and instinct fighting for control, and neither had the upper hand. She watched, frozen, as the two armies fought, and their immortal masters beside them.

Pluto seemed to be fairing better against Mimas, as if the millennia of warring with his brothers had toughened Pluto enough to easily stand up to the giant, who had thousands of years of rest and stockpiling of power on his side. That, or the massive dog that was constantly appearing and attacking Mimas from all directions, which was bound to be a distraction.

Unfortunately, his army of the dead was not doing so well. Many of the soldiers had come into the battle looking worn and already in a state of disrepair, as if they had just fought in a battle recently. Nico seemed to be tiring, falling back and summoning new soldiers rather than fighting along side them, but his front was being pushed further and further back towards the walls. His forces were getting fewer and fewer, until only around ten or so remained. The demons stopped appearing, but it was fifty against Nico's ten. They swarmed him, and she lost sight of his figure. Pluto seemed to have lost concentration on his army, focusing entirely on his enemy, as no reinforcements appeared.

Some of them ran at Hazel, surrounding her, and suddenly she could move, instinct and mental determination working together: she couldn't run away without fighting her way out. She swung the razor sharp tooth at the nearest demon, but it was shorter than even the Roman swords she was used to, and her blow fell short. One swung at her face, fiery claws growing from a flaming fist as it neared her head and she screamed, lashing out with her weapon, trying to stop the fire from touching her. Her blow connected, but as she severed the arm at the elbow the remaining limb continued to fly, the palm of the hand brushing over her skin, and immediately it began to melt. The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before, as if her very essence was dissolving. She tried to fall back on her powers, the old failsafe of most demigods, but they were blocked. The once loose circle began to close tighter around her, and the pain was too great for her to lift her weapon. Power was her last hope. She pulled, feeling for the roots around her, but they didn't respond. Her sight grew dim as she continued to pull, she could do this, she _had_ to do this. A figure was running at her – Nico. She felt her legs buckle as he jumped on her assailants, blade flashing wildly in the mix of red and green light. She tried to stop pulling, but she couldn't. Her mind kept repeating the chant 'I can do this, I have to do this' and she found herself not in control of her body, unable stop as she felt her essence began to drain away. Only two of the demons were left, and the blurs of Mimas and Pluto were fighting more intensely, moving too quickly for her mind to track.

Suddenly, she felt a snap. The ground began to shake again, huge green snakes of vines burst through the floor, burning as they came, but the fires couldn't stop them, new ones grew from the blackened bodies of those they shrivelled up in the heat. They squeezed the demons, suffocating their flames, forming blackened, blurry blobs in her vision. She felt her strength ebb, her vision tunnelled, and cleared slightly, and with her last power, she concentrated on Mimas. As her body collapsed, huge vines tangled around the granite legs of the giant, burrowing in and twisting around them, restraining him. Nico slammed his hands to the ground, and a chasm opened up beneath him. Then Pluto made his move, his sword penetrating the left hand side of the giant's chest, golden blood spurted out, and then his staff slammed into the giant's torso, and he began to fall. Hazel felt herself let go, and the giant fell, the chasm closing in on him. As her eyes closed, she saw Nico collapse beside her, and Pluto began to shrink. Then she slipped off into unconsciousness, the pain in her arm still omnipresent.

**Sorry about the long paragraphs, but this chapter was mainly action rather than dialogue, but I split it up where it felt right. **


	18. Chapter 18 Hazel

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

When Hazel's eyes refocused, she was staring up at a tree canopy covered in gleaming white crystals of snow. The area around her was bathed in a dull yellow light, and through the gaps in branches she could see that it was night. She could feel her arms and legs shivering, even though she was wrapped multiple layers of cloth so that she looked like some kind of Eskimo. She could hear the faint murmuring of voices, and felt heat radiating out towards her right hand side, and instinctively began to shuffle away. Immediately, she felt a sharp pain in her left forearm, which quickly grew to a burn, and didn't fade away. She hissed, and heard the conversation come to an abrupt end.

"Hazel?" Percy's voice,

"Yeah?" she tried to reply, but her throat was completely dry and the words came out gruff and twisted.

"You ok?"

"Fine," She eased herself up on her right arm, the left one slumped, lying inept across her lap. She lay about five metres away from a small fire, where Nico and Percy were sitting. Nico's shoulder was a mass of white cloth, the kind you might see in a film wrapped around a mummy, but Percy seemed unfazed. James was sitting opposite to her, staring into the flames as if he'd just seen his living nightmare. She could feel a harsh wind blowing from behind her, the east. Thunder boomed in the distance, and through the leaves she saw flashes of brilliant blue.

"Are you sure?" asked Percy, "Your… your arm doesn't, well, see for yourself," Her curiosity peaked and she began to unravel the layers around it. The pain flared up again as she pealed off the last blood soaked bandage, to reveal the blackened stick which had been her arm. Her forearm looked like charcoal, pitch black and felt just as responsive when she tried to move it. From elbow to shoulder it was raw and bright red, and the skin on her hand was frayed.

"Ouch,"

Nico disguised a snort badly by pretending to sneeze, "I'd say a bit more that 'ouch', were I in your position,"

"If you really want to hear a string of profanities, then I'm more than happy to oblige,"

"No thanks,"

"Is this permanent?"

"Unless one of us is Apollo in disguise, then probably. At least, my dad thinks so,"

"You spoke to him?"

"No, he magically beamed his thoughts into my mind. Of course he spoke to me,"

"Just out of the blue, your godly parent spoke to you?"

"Actually, he came out of the black,"

"Whatever,"

"Well, he was here, I was here, he's my dad, why wouldn't he speak to me?"

"The gods hardly ever speak to demigods,"

"I practically live with my dad… and the gods talk to us all the time. Well, usually,"

"At camp, only about five of us have ever spoken to our parents. If they talk to us, we get too soft, we think they'll dote on us, so contact is nigh on forbidden,"

"So what, you just sit and train all day so you can stay 'tough'?"

"No, just most of the day,"

"That's s-"

"Drop it, Nico," She looked thankfully at Percy, as Nico turned away from her, muttering something. Percy rose from his seat beside the fire, and came to sit next to her,

"Are you gonna be ok to move later? We don't have much time until the solstice anymore, and we still need to reach the peak,"

"I guess I don't have much choice then, do I?" She frowned at her arm, why did this have to happen now?

Percy grimaced, "Not really. We have some spare bandages, so we can wrap it up again. Hades left them though, and I'm pretty sure you can guess where they came from, so I don't know if you want to use them,"

She shivered, "Do we have anything else?"

"Not really…"

"Great," She thought back to the fight in the cavern, guilt washed over her as she remembered how she had stood frozen in place for so long. Last time that had happened… well, at least history hadn't repeated itself in this case. Why was there always fire when there was a big fight going on? And which Greek idiot had decided that it was going to be one of the four elements? Whoever it was, they were in deep shit when she died.

Unfortunately, Percy seemed to be thinking about the fight as well, "What happened back in the cave? Nico gave me some rough details, but it sounded like he left something out,"

"Umm… you fainted, and then we killed the bad guy, what else do you need to know?"

"For a start, how that happened," he said, pointing at her arm, and she winced, as if even just the mental force he was directing at it made her arm burn.

"Well… what was the last thing you saw?"

"Hades,"

"Right…" She looked over at Nico, who seemed to be talking to James, a minor miracle, before readjusting her gaze back to Percy, "Well, Pluto turned up and started fighting with Mimas, and they both started to summon their minions. Pluto had all these skeletons, which were fighting fire demons which Mimas had summoned. Nico started fighting too, and I tried to help but-" She hung her head in shame, "I couldn't move,"

"Why?"

"My fear. I couldn't even look at the demons, couldn't move for my need to flee,"

"Your fear?"

She nodded her head, "Most demigods have them. Its something you're terrified of, even if it's something irrational like coke or apples, and you can't do anything except flee when the subject of your fears is nearby,"

"How can I find out what I'm afraid of?"

"Most people share their fear with their siblings, but being the Son of Neptune that might take a while. To be honest, I don't think you really want to know what your fear is, better to be blissfully unaware than always looking over your shoulder,"

"Right. Wait, what's your fear?"

She groaned internally, "Fire, _caudex_,"

"Oh yeah," He looked embarrassed, even though he probably didn't know what _caudex_ meant.

"Most demigods don't like tin cans either though. The wolves always tell us about the horrible monsters that eat them. Apparently, fauns kill demigods all the time, which is why there are so few of us. They're also impossible to slay, so you're only hope is to run. They try and teach the younger children to stay away from them, just in case, but most of the first legion think it's all bull,"

"You're scared of tin cans?" She _almost_ hit him for looking so smug, but kept her voice civil.

"Not scared, per say, but they make me feel shifty. Some people are terrified of them, though, and a lot of them are a lot bigger than you so I wouldn't go around laughing about it,"

"Guess I'll just carry some baked beans around to keep me safe then," She decided against hitting him, if he could take a hit from a giant more than twenty times her size she doubted it would do anything. He looked like he was waiting for an answer, but she decided that silence would probably annoy him more than her fists. The sun began to rise to the east, and she decided to break the silence,

"It's dawn. We should move."

**Sorry for the long wait, but homework and teachers panicking over the fact we have about 8 weeks until our GCSE modules has stopped me writing for the last… like 2 months. Ok, that's a crap excuse, but I've also been stuck thinking of how this chapter should go but I have time this holiday and should *hopefully* be able to get up a few more chapters by the end. In regards to story length, I'm planning on finishing off the path of the prophecy and then doing a few chapters at camp, so probably another 5-8. I have some ideas for doing a sequel, but if I did then the updates would probably be as sporadic as with this, so if you think you could put up with that please let me know. If I can work out how to, I'll do a poll :P**

**To anybody who knows Latin, I can't remember if caudex means idiot as well as blockhead, and I'm in a sans-Latin-book, sans-internet area at the time of writing this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm aware I don't use Latin as much as other authors, but to be honest in the first five books the only Greek is basically curses so I don't think it would stay true to the way the books went to spam Latin every chapter.**

**Someone complained about lack of dialogue and too much action in the story in a review last chapter - I was under the impression that I had the opposite problem, but meh, the customer, or reader, is always right. Ish. I hope this very docile and talking-y chapter soothes your qualms. The next will follow suit.**

**Was Percy fainting in the last chapter realistic? I guess I'm sadistic in nature, but I feel the need to have my characters take some form of harm from time to time to make it seem realistic and due to the curse of Achilles, I can only kill him, make him tired, make him faint or emotionally destroy him (yes, I **_**can**_** only deal in extremes). The first and last would screw up any preconceived plans I might have for any future sequels, so I sadly have to stick to the middle two. Hazel and Nico are, by contrast, much more fun.**

**Thanks to anyone who read my first long authors note, or indeed bothered to continue reading this story, and hopefully I'll get several more updates in before the holidays end.**


	19. Chapter 19 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

**Warning: Really bad chapter ahead.**

As Percy moved over to talk to Hazel, Nico took on the job which he had allocated him self. Explaining to James. Oh joy.

He still didn't really get why he was going over it again, but the main reason was that James probably wasn't paying much attention the last time. And he needed to start before he managed to back himself out of it. It wasn't that he hated James, or resented him _that_ much. It was just that Nico really, _really _didn't want to be the one explaining. He didn't know the myths half as well as the other demigods who had been at camp as long as him. And, quite frankly, he didn't care about them anymore. Sure, when he was younger Greek mythology had been cool, and he'd been proud to know the most about it out of the various other ten year olds in the many classes he'd jumped between about three years ago, but things had changed. Thanks to all this, he'd lost his sister. His life had been turned upside down, and thrown him to the edges of society in the process. And now he was an outcast. An outcast among demigods. An outcast among outcasts. Yay. And now he had to convince himself that him being the one explaining everything to James was a better option than leaving him in the dark until he got back to camp.

He sighed, looking up at James to see him still huddled staring into the fire. Might as well get it over with. "James?"

He got no answer, but figured he'd just look stupid sitting there and spoke again, "You know that thing I was telling you about Greek gods yesterday?"

No answer, "Well basically, I'm going to go over it again for you." Silence. "So that thing in the cave? That was like a god, but more of an anti-god. They're called giants, and they're really power-"

"No shit, Sherlock," James stirred, joints cracking as he shifted his position. "Is that the sought of thing I'm going to have to fight now I've been force enlisted into your team of demi-pods?"

"Gods,"

"Gods-pods-mods I don't really care, to be honest. It'd be more helpful if you actually told me what it means to be one rather than the incredibly boring story of why I exist," If there was a god of being annoying, Nico needed to pay a house call. And turn into an oversized stalk. He _tried_ not to think of Dionysus.

He tried to keep his voice from showing his irritation, "Ok, fine," he paused, "It means you're going to get hunted by every single monster that smells you, you're going to be confined to a camp for most of you're life unless you want to leave and probably get eaten during the school year, and if you're lucky, you're only going to have to die once to get into a nice place. If you're lucky, and if you don't annoy me, of course," James had begun watching him closely, as if observing an experiment. "There are a few positives, but outside of power I'm not the one to tell you about them,"

"Sounds like fun,"

"Sure is," Nico remembered something, and his intrigue took over from his annoyance. "You said something about not being dyslexic earlier, what did you mean?"

"I'd hazard a guess at meaning I didn't have dyslexia. I told you I could read. If that's what you go on when deciding if people are demigods or not, then I guess I can leave now,"

"That's now everything, but most people fit under that banner,"

"What else is there?"

"Well, usually you can also tell by looking at someone. Most demigods look like their godly parent,"

"And me?"

"Well, you look like you could be my brother, but you can't see in the dark and I can't make peoples attacks miss me like you did in the cave,"

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when Lycaon was about to kill you? The attack just curved away at the last second,"

James looked confused, "No it didn't. I have a gash to prove it," He lifted his torn shirt to reveal a long red line down his torso, "I moved just in time,"

"But then…" Sure, this made perfect sense. Not. "What happened then, really?"

"Didn't you see? We were fighting for ages. It took hours,"

"No it didn't, it took about thirty seconds,"

"But that's impossible," He checked a watch that hung loosely on his arm, "Wait, this says it's the twentieth, but when we got out of that dark room it said the fifteenth," He checked again to make sure, "How did this happen?"

"Don't look at me," he turned to see Percy and Hazel had risen, and were walking towards them, "Guys, how come it's the twentieth today, I went in on the fourteenth and we were only in there for at most two days,"

Percy's look mirrored his, "No, from the bottom of the hill it took us three days to find you. That was the fifteenth. You were in there for ages,"

"No I wasn't. I can tell the time perfectly in the dark. I was there for a day, and then we were in the chamber for most of today. It should be about the sixteenth,"

"He's right, I checked my watch when we entered, it says it's been five days. Something's gone wrong,"

"Shit, I though we had more time!" Nico stood up, "We need to leave now,"

"We still have today and tomorrow," Percy said, looking out as the sun rose, "We only have to reach the peak,"

"Yeah, but what are we going to meet when we get there, and how many days will that take up? We need to hurry, or our time will run out. And the Gods, what happens if we don't get them out on time?"

"We're following a prophecy, and it says we get there on time so we will," said Hazel, blissfully unaware of what Nico deemed to be a bigger threat than the giant they had just slain, "Whatever it is at the top, it sounds benevolent. It will probably help us, stop panicking, Nico,"

"Don't take it for granted," Nico said, grabbing the few things that were strewn around the clearing, "Don't ever take it for granted. That's when it kills you. Trust me," He hoped his 'I'm scary, don't fuck with me' face would speed them up, but nobody else seemed to sense the urgency. James was new to this, Percy couldn't remember and in Hazel's world prophecies were all daisies and buttercups, helping you along. Only he knew what might happen - you take it slowly, and the fates start playing with you to make you speed up. Ok, so maybe he was just being paranoid, but now that it was him on the quest, he wasn't going to let then get killed because they didn't stick to the deadline.

Finally, they all caved and began to help, Percy and James smothered the fire while Hazel looked away, and then Nico stepped out of the clearing.

**That sucked, sorry D: I ran out of steam and had to make it up as I went along (I kinda-sorta-ish forgot my plan). I felt that the last chapter was ok, but this one felt really bad when I wrote it. Just so you know, the time-skip-thingy isn't just an excuse not to have to fill in several days, it's part of the plot. **


	20. Chapter 20 Nico

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.**

Nico could feel the eyes of the others burning into the back of his head as he led them up the mountain. Looking back on it, he felt like he'd overreacted quite badly. But the idea that they'd lost five days fighting Mimas frightened him. Some external force was messing with them, which was probably bad. Usually, external force equalled god, and that basically meant that there was a two in insert-big-number-here chance of them not wanting to muck up his day.

Ok, so maybe Hazel was right and they would be fine, but if he could help it he was going to do his best to get things done on time, just in case the fates did decide to give them some 'motivation'.

And what could be at the top of the mountain? The giant thing had been bad enough – he still didn't know exactly what it was – but the idea that something worse was just up ahead was disturbing. And Nico could feel something up there, something he wasn't particularly sure wanted to be his friend, and once they reached the top and he was right, he supposed the ability to force them all to acknowledge his superiority and impeccable foresight would make up for it. As long as they didn't die.

He could see the peak now, not more than fifty metres above them. He could feel a strange aura coming out of it, old and musty but at the same time it reeked of power, which seemed at the same time so appealing, and so horrific. He stopped abruptly, trying to string together a plan for when they arrived there. Hopefully, they would be able to enter so that they wouldn't offend whatever it was that awaited them but at the same time would be ready to fight.

Unfortunately, while being Hades' son came with a few neat tricks, it meant he was no Annabeth when it came to deciding what to do. Unsurprisingly, this thought offered him no knew insight, and he looked at it from another perspective, that hopefully didn't include his inadequacies: risk. Was it worth charging in headlong only to find that they had offended a potential ally? Or was it better to go in peaceably, and then come face-to-face with Mimas 2.0? He decided that a bad first impression was probably better than being dead, at least in Percy and Hazel's minds, and did an about-face before explaining the plan to his silent gathering.

"Ok, so we're getting near to the peak, and I've got a plan,"

"Go on then," thankfully, Percy had returned his facial features to their normal positioning,

"Step one, we reach the top; step two, we run in with weapons drawn; step three, we win,"

"What if we're not fighting anything?"

"Then we look stupid but don't get killed for being unprepared,"

"That's a crap plan,"

"Got any better ideas?"

"Nope," of course not, Percy with a plan that didn't involve being an idiot and/or nearly dying was next to unheard of,

"Then we don't have a better option,"

"And what if it goes wrong; do you have a plan B?"

"Of course," he wracked his brains, "we regroup on the Fields of Asphodel,"

"Sounds like fun," Hazel looked cynical, "We could just go up there, and be ready for something to happen,"

"And what if there is something?"

She sighed, "There won't be. Not yet anyway. Remember the prophecy? We headed for the peak and fought with Mimas, but now we don't have too long left and we're looking for someone, at a fountain. If we're going to look for them, then it sounds like they're on our team,"

"Yeah, except for the fact that if it sounds like something, then it probably isn't,"

"How would you know?"

"From experience,"

Hazel looked annoyed, but also looked like she didn't want to go through another of his outbursts, "Fine, we do it your way. But when we find nothing but a nice big fountain you can just suck it up,"

"Let's do this,"

They began to march, this time all four of them, up the mountain. It was actually a lot farther than Nico had first thought, and it took them almost half an hour to draw near. He felt the weight of his sword around his waist, as if it too ached to go in prepared by he resisted. Hazel pushed past him with surprising determination for a girl whose arm was wrapped up in mummy bandages after the last time she had had a run in with something this big.

As the team reached the peak, the mist broke. A huge plate of rock was attached to the tip of the mountain, and they all levered themselves onto it. The joining looked haphazard, but nothing wobbled as they took their first tentative steps across the seemingly solid floor. The wind was strong, almost strong enough to blow them away, and for a moment Nico wished Thalia was there – theoretically, she could do something about it. Then he looked down and decided things were best as they were. The idea of the Daughter of Zeus being afraid of heights still seemed comic to him, and had earned him more than one slap during their meeting before last.

Hazel gasped from a few feet ahead of him, pointing at a blurry shape in the distance. He squinted, taking a few steps forwards until the shape became clear: a huge fountain, in the centre of the rocky plateau on which they stood. They hurried forwards, hoping to reach it before the winds blew them away. As they neared it, the winds seemed to stop abruptly, although they could still see sand, snow and leaves being thrown around mere metres away from them. The fountain was made of grey stone, granite by the looks of it, and a strange liquid flowed in its basins: shimmering silver and black, like the rivers of the Lethe. A metal plate was fixed to the front, with the following inscription:

_Property of Zodiac UnLtd._

_Defacers will be punished._

The sound of punishment didn't sound particularly enjoyable to him, but at the same time the source of the aura was somewhere within. He decided to act on impulse, before the voice of reason (enter Hazel) stopped him. In one swift movement, his sword was drawn and had sliced through the fountain, cutting it clean in half even though the strike had barely passed through an eighth of it. As Hazel shouted, "Nico!" something began to grow for the somehow disintegrating rock. A figure began to appear, from the smallest lump at its heart, arms and legs throwing themselves out until a man appeared with four arms, holding an ornate wheel. Then it morphed, into a serpent with three heads – one of a man, one of a bull and one of a lion, before it came to rest as an old man. He straightened his back, seeming to enjoy the many cracks which made Nico and the others cringe. He then turned two dark brown eyes to face them, and when he spoke it sounded like the voice of someone who had been asleep for a long time, and wasn't accustomed to using his voice box,

"_My greetings, Nico Di Angelo. I apologise for the stress I seem to have caused you, but I'm sure we have much more important matters to attend to_,"

Nico was about to answer when Hazel interrupted him, "What the hell did he just say?"

"Are you deaf?"

"No, I just don't speak… what was that supposed to be, Greek?"

"Ah," so what if he couldn't tell the difference? "One second," he turned to the man, consciously switching to Nico-language-setting-three, "Do you speak English?"

"Of course," the language sounded all wrong when the man spoke, as if he had never actually spoken it before, "My apologies, Daughter of Ceres. I am afraid I have been asleep for many aeons, and have not had much chance to practice speech in other tongues. For almost an eternity now, my only chance to interact with humans has been through my one surviving toy, which I believe has caused you all so much grief," he almost looked apologetic, which was strange for an immortal, "Let me introduce myself, I am Chronos. Time," He looked down at the earth around him, and frowned, "I guess I'm running a bit late,"

**Wrote this in celebration of the four day weekend, and I got back my science module results :D I dropped my first mark in science though D: 239 in 240 across the sciences is good enough I guess. (No, I'm not going to tell you how badly I'm doing in English)**

**Updates aren't going to be as… for want of a better word frequent as they were earlier this year as it's time for all the teachers to start panicking about upcoming exams etc, etc, etc. Updates will mainly be when it's the holidays, or when my parents can convince me revision is somewhat worthwhile and I 'do' it. Mostly, I'm bogged down in homework or trying to relax away from it. Expect this to be finished in the summer, probably not any sooner.**

**Just going to point out: Nico doesn't know that they met Thalia. Yet. The fact Chronos just says 'time' isn't a mistake, it's more than he isn't really the Protogenoi of Time, but rather the embodiment of time itself, and being the god (or goddess) of yourself is a bit weird so… :P I'm using the version (I think it's the Theogony) of the creation myth, so Chaos is first, then Gaia, Eros, Erebus, Chronos and co., from where everyone else pops in, rather than the Chronos creating the Aether and Chaos (and indirectly Phanes) version. Only reasons for the preference being that the former is easier to research due to the Theogony being fairly well known, and I prefer the idea of it. Chronos' Latin name still eludes me, so if anybody knows it please let me know (PM or review). It's not Saturn. That's Kronos (ish). I'm going to run with the Romans not having 'paid much attention to him or his fellows besides Gaia' as an excuse and just use the Greek name unless I find it, in which case I'll come back and edit some stuff. (E.g. Hazel will have some inkling of who he is).**

**In response to the review about the way I spelt the gods' names, for 99% of the gods there are at least two different spellings, and I just choose one and stick to it, usually due to my familiarity. The differences are due the fact the names have to be transliterated from the Greek to the Latin alphabets, and many of the ancient Greek letters can transliterate as two letters. Others are just added in to help pronunciation, or because of breathings. For example (this isn't a god) Hippopotamus comes from ****river horse (Word wouldn't do an end-of-word sigma thing)) and during transliteration the Latin H is added (I'm pretty sure there's a breathing there, though, which is the Greek equivalent, or are breathings only before Eta? I'm not exactly knowledgeable when it comes to Greek, Latin is more my thing). Kappa (****) is the 'c' or 'k' equivalent, which gives the spellings Kronos or Cronos (or Cronus/Kronus etc…). With the Latin alphabet, this means it get confused with Chronos, even though they use completely different letters (Chronos uses ****. This is ancient Greek, remember, so it will be different to modern Greek.**

**I'd hate to whore reviews when I update so infrequently, but can anyone guess his 'toy'? It's really obvious, but meh.**


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